Friends
by sucura
Summary: A Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction which focuses around Rinoa and Zell, two characters from FF8....to make things short:Rinoa and Zell are looking for Squall and their friends,when they find out they are apart of a much bigger story, more detailed summery inside
1. Summery

Summery

Four years after their world was destroyed, Rinoa and Zell have been living on   
Vana'diel trying to about their lives. One day an unknown stranger comes to their  
door and saying he knows what happened and where their friends are, including   
Squall and Selphie who had disappeared a few months before their world was   
destroyed. While trying to find their friends they find out that they are apart of a  
much bigger picture.

**Disclaimer:** No I don't own Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts or the like...if  
I did all FF/KH games would've scored a 10/10.


	2. Chapter 1

Four years, that's exactly how long its been. Four years since their world was completely destroyed by a unknown and unstoppable darkness. Sure they had faced many challenges and difficulties, fought many battles, but when that darkness came that day...everything ended. Everyone had disappeared and it was unknown if they were alive or dead. Squall and Selphie had disappeared several months before the darkness came, and then went Quistis, Irvine and everyone else from Balamb Garden. Zell was lucky, he considered himself lucky. Not only was he alive but had woken up beside his friend Rinoa, however the two were transported to a strange world. Four years ago, all of that had happened so suddenly and now Zell and Rinoa were stuck in a town going about their lives as much as possible. Zell wondered where Squall and Selphie had vanished too and believed their disappearance had some connection to the darkness that came to their world.

"Dincht, I told you to clean those damn dishes. If you're not gonna do it then get the hell outta here and I'll find someone more useful to work in this damn diner." a voice yelled from behind the counter.

"I'm getting to it Mr. Gerry." Zell shouted back.

"Well get to it faster, ya dumbass." the manager yelled again.

"Little snot-nosed bastard, if Rinoa hadn't said not to get fired this time I'd beat your ass." Zell mumbled to himself, as he started to clean to dishes.

Four years in this world, known as Vana'diel, in a small port town called Selbina. Ever since the two of them had appeared in this world they have tried their best to make a living and live a normal life. Things were hard at first with no home, money or food and cloths. However, the two had found a job and bought a small home within Selbina. It wasn't much but both Zell and Rinoa did their part and lived the life of any townsfolk in Selbina. Rinoa worked as a item shop clerk down the street and while Zell had gotten himself fired from numerous jobs, he now worked as a dishwasher at the Selbina Cafe.

"Damnit, are you done yet?" the manager yelled again,"Damn just forget it, I'm closing the shop up, go home!"

Zell sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at clock. It was exactly 12 midnight, the usual time the cafe closed. Zell placed the final dish in the dish drainer and unbuttoned his apron, hanging it up in closet. He ran out of the kitchen and past the counter to the entrance where his boss stood. Without a word, he passed his boss and headed down the street to his house, where Rinoa would probably be waiting with dinner already made. It was strange to think the two would be having dinner at such a late hour, but both of them got off late and usually none of them had anything to eat since lunch that day. Usually Rinoa got off work at ten and was home by then, she did most of the work around the house and if it weren't for her he probably wouldn't have made it all this way. He approached the dark, brick house that stood behind a wooden picket fence. The windows were dimly-lit with candles but were brighter then any other houses on the street. Zell ran up to the door and walked in only to be greeted by a smiling face.

"Hey Zell, dinner is in the kitchen." Rinoa said with a smile,"How was work today?"

"Awful as usual, I mean I've come across some nasty people but no one is nastier then my boss." Zell replied, hurrying into the kitchen where a hot meal awaited him.

"Well try not to get fired this time, I mean this is the four hundred and twelfth job you've had so far, you really need to learn to control your temper more." Rinoa stated,"I mean you can't be beating on everyone who yells at you and calls you names, just ignore it and learn to put up with it."

"Easy for you to say, your boss is actually nice." Zell said, as he began to stuff his dinner down his mouth.

Rinoa sighed and sat down at the other end of the table. She placed her elbow on the table, leaning her head against it she began to take spoonfuls and shove them in her mouth. Zell looked up noticing her sudden mood change, but knew exactly what was bothering her. The two remained silent finishing their dinner, until they both heard a knock at the door. Zell looked at the door with narrow eyes wondering if it was the salesman again. That guy came everyday trying to sell them something, and now he was showing up this late at night. He was fed up with and stormed to the door opening it up ready to deck the guy, but no one was there.

"Who is it?" Rinoa called to him.

"No one, probably some kids playing pranks that's all." Zell replied.

Zell closed the door and started towards the table, but again a knock came at the door. Zell walked back over and opened it up only to find again no one one around. He peered around outside, but the streets were empty and not a soul was even there. Scratching his head, he closed the door and began for the table only to hear a knock at the door a third time. Zell quickly rushed over and swung the door open, but again no one was there. Zell at the point was red and had steam coming out of his ears, closing the door he swung around and quickly opened it up again. A small peep came from Zell's feet as he looked down to notice a small man dressed in a dark cloak. Ready to beat him down, Rinoa quickly intercepted and looked down at the small figure.

"Well hello there child, is there anything we can do for you?" Rinoa asked the child, holding Zell back.

"Are you Rinoa?" the the cloaked person asked.

"Yes, but how did you know my name?" Rinoa asked, surprised by this mysterious figure.

"I believe you are looking for your friends, Squall and Selphie? I know where they are, if I may come in." the cloaked person asked, "Oh pardon me, allow me to introduce myself, I am King Mickey." 

The cloaked figure removed his hood to reveal a mouse with two big round ears and a smiling face. Both Zell and Rinoa shocked, not by Mickey's appearance, but by the fact that someone knew where Selphie was, and where Squall had been. Not knowing if it was a trap or not, Rinoa went with her instincts and let her new guest in. Mickey nodded and walked inside to the warm and cozy house, as he looked up at the two who still were too shocked to say anything.

"I know you may have your doubts right now as if there is truth to my words, but I assure I am friend and I'm here to help you." Mickey said.

Rinoa nodded and smiled as she lead Mickey over to the couch that sat in the living room. Mickey nodded and followed her over and sat down in a warm, feathered chair. Zell still stood near the door in disbelief and was not sure of how he felt. He looked back over at Mickey and Rinoa, who both waited for him to join them. Hesitant at first, Zell slowly made his way over to the couch and sat beside Rinoa looking down at the wooden floor.

"You know where they are, Squall and Selphie?" Rinoa asked, her voice quivering.

"Yes, Squall and I are what you can call...acquaintances. Both of us have been active in the fight against the heartless, the ones that attacked your world." Mickey explained,"These heartless have destroyed many worlds, and they steal the hearts of those they capture. You two were very fortunate to escape with your lives."

"So that's what happened, damn those heartless." Zell said, his hands clenched into a fist.

"We have all lost a lot because of the heartless and many have stood up against it in order to fix the worlds, so to say. There is only one weapon that can completely eliminate the heartless, and that is called a keyblade. Its a weapon that is able to unlock the door to each world's hearts, and Sora, its wielder, has been doing so ever since he was chosen." Mickey explained,"Sora fought against the heartless some years ago and their so called leader Ansem, and defeated them. However, not to long after that a group known as Organization XIII took control of the heartless and began collecting hearts of many. What their plan is I am still unsure of, but I still have to meet with Sora on it. I haven't seen him in a while and it is my guess he is in Twilight Town."

"I see...we'll help!" Rinoa said, standing up and stomping her foot down,"We'll help you defeat the heartless!"

Zell looked up at Rinoa and saw the solid determination in her eyes. He hadn't seen her like this in years, and personally he was glad to see her happy once again. He too stood up and nodded in agreement, a look of strong determination in his eyes as well. Mickey had hoped the two would consider that, but he did not expect them to decide so quickly. He stood up and with a smile looked up at the two who looked as eager as ever.

"I'm glad to see this and I appreciate your help more then anyone. I promise to show you to Squall and Selphie and the rest of your friends once we are all prepared. I will give you some time to get ready and tomorrow we'll leave." Mickey said,"Until then, thank you!"

"Thank you King Mickey." Rinoa said, with a bow.

Zell bowed along with Rinoa, as the two walked Mickey over to the door and showed him out. Mickey looked back at Zell and Rinoa and smiled before putting his hood back up over his face. He turned and walked down the small flight of steps and out the gate, turning to walk down the road and disappearing into the darkness. Rinoa closed the door and stood there silent for a minute, looking up at Zell she jumped on him with a huge hug. Zell couldn't help but hug her back, as his mind drifted to seeing his friends again.

"We better get prepared for tomorrow." Rinoa said,"Tomorrow we'll see our friends again."

Down the street Mickey walked slowly, turning into a dark alleyway and then bursting into water. A laugh came from the darkness as two figures dressed in black cloaks revealed themselves in the dim light of the moon. The one figure pushed back his hood to reveal a younger looking male with blonde hair carrying a blue sitar. The other figure remained cloaked as he turned laughing to the blonde male.

"That's quite a neat trick you got there, Demyx." the man laughed,"Thought you could only create clones of yourself. Now if we can just get by tomorrow, we'll be ok and everything will be going as planned."

The cloaked figure grinned and looked back to see a dark mass open up before him. He disappeared into the mass, leaving Demyx behind to stare at Rinoa and Zell's house. Demyx turned with a smile and disappeared into the dark mass slowly, turning again for one last glance.

"Until tomorrow, Rinoa." he whispered disappearing in the darkness.


	3. Chapter 2

The sun had just begun to rise filling the house with sun shine through the windows. The sunlight shown through a cracked door to reveal Zell half on his bed asleep and and snoring so loudly you couldn't hear the birds chirping outside. In the room across from Zell was Rinoa packing everything she needed and getting ready to go. She paused for a moment and looked down at her bed, it had been four years since they've seen each other. Rinoa wasn't quite sure what to say when she saw Squall again, it had just been so long. She wiped her eye trying to hide the tear from herself and smiled, she was happy, more then ever. Today she began a new life and reclaimed her old one. Her train of thought was disturbed by a knock at the door; quickly running over she opened it to see King Mickey standing before her in the same exact black cloak.

"I hope you slept well." Mickey chuckled.

Rinoa nodded and called out to Zell, who was surprised by the call and fell out of bed. Rinoa shut the door and led Mickey to the kitchen where she had already warmed up some tea. Zell came slouching in the kitchen in his bunny rabbit pajamas and with sleepy eyes. Forgetting what had happened last night, he grabbed a bowl and began pouring himself some breakfast until he saw Mickey. A minute passed before Zell suddenly realized what day it was and ran back into his room to pack. Rinoa just shook her head not surprised at all by Zell's behavior and turned to Mickey with the tea kettle and three tea cups in her hand.

"Would you like some tea before we go?" Rinoa asked.

"Oh no thank you, I had eaten before I came over." Mickey answered, "I was hoping we could leave as soon as possible, are you both ready to go?"

"Oh certainly, the faster we get out of here the better." Rinoa replied, pouring herself some tea and then some for Zell.

Mickey nodded in agreement, as Rinoa sipped at her tea waiting for Zell to finish getting ready. Zell suddenly popped out with a huge smile and his hands at his hips like he was a superhero. Rinoa chuckled and turned to Mickey who smiled slightly. Mickey then stood up and tacking ten steps back summoned up a blue mass of energy. He turned back to the other two who stood in amazement of what the mass of blue energy before them was.

"This is called a portal and it allows people to travel to different locations and even different world no matter how far the distance. This portal will lead you to your friends, as well a new journey." Mickey said,"Are you both ready?"

Rinoa and Zell both nodded as they stepped up to the portal and glanced at it. Mickey nodded and without hesitation disappeared into the blue portal, leaving Zell and Rinoa to watch in amazement as well as fear. Taking a deep breath Rinoa walked into the portal, disappearing along with Mickey. She appeared on the other side, to see Mickey standing next to a large fountain in what seemed like a large town. She looked back to see Zell appear and watched as the blue portal closed.

_"This is it!"_ Rinoa thought to herself.

She smiled at Zell who felt a bit dizzy from the small trip he had just taken and turned back to Mickey. However, something was wrong, he seemed to be soaking wet and dripping water. Suddenly he burst into water and formed a small puddle beneath her feet. Horrified by what had just happened, she jumped back and stared at the puddle.

"King..." she called, but with no answer.

"So easily fooled, pathetic." a voice came from behind them.

Rinoa turned to see two figures dressed in the same black cloaks that Mickey was dressed in. One was a blonde man carrying around a large blue weapon she could not identify and the other hid under his hood. She then suddenly realized what had just happened, they had been tricked. She stood there frozen in shock, trying to figure out what this all meant. Meanwhile Zell came to and looked around not realizing what had happened. He turned to Rinoa and noticed the look on her face, his eyes then meeting with the two strangers standing not too far from them. He immediately knew something was wrong and turned to help Rinoa only to get knocked down. Zell looked up and saw a large gap of water in the form of one of the strangers, the water then suddenly burst as Zell rose to his feet in defense of both him and Rinoa.

"Did you like that, its my water clone. I can make as many as I like with my sitar here." Demyx laughed,"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners. I should present myself to the lovely lady over there, I'm..."

"Skip the introductions Demyx, just kill the boy and take Rinoa so we can leave." the other man spoke,"Unless you prefer we play a game of chance here, either way is fine with me."

"What do you mean take Rinoa? What do you want with Rinoa?" Zell began to yell, confused by what was going on,"Who are you guys, where is Squall and Selphie? What happened to the King?"

"My, my you ask a lot questions." the man spoke,"Don't you get it already boy, you were tricked into coming here. You won't be seeing your friends because they're not here, to say the least. As for what we want with Rinoa...well that's our own little secret."

Zell clenched his fists in anger and charged at the two men who stood before him. What they has done was unforgivable, tricking them and making them believe they would see their friends again. They made Rinoa believe she would see Squall again, something that had made her happy again in such a long time and now...now they had taken that away. His rage took over his judgment and before he knew it, he was beat down by several more water clones. He got to his feet and began punching and kicking the water clones around him, but no matter how many he defeated, more just kept forming and coming at him. Suddenly, a water clone formed around him trapping him in the gap of water. Desperately trying to get air, he began to kick and punch but nothing seemed to break the trap. He turned back to Rinoa, who was still frozen from the shock of everything, and called out to her only to get no reply. Rinoa didn't hear him but only thought about Squall; did this really mean she was never going to see him again. It seemed like a likely possibility and now they were stuck in a situation where they could lose their lives. She couldn't let this happen, she wasn't going to let it happen. She would make sure she didn't die here and she would see Squall again. She would see her friends again, no matter what it took. In anger she pulled out her Blaster Edge and strapped it around her arm. She then fired it as the projectile curved and hit the water clone, freeing Zell from the trap.

"Where are our friends?" she asked, anger in her tone.

"Heh, your a feisty one and a stupid one at that." the man laughed,"Don't you get it, you won't see your friends. You'll never see your friends, from now on you'll just be alone for the rest of your pathetic life."

"You're wrong, I will see my friends again. Selphie, Irvine, Quistis and even Squall, I'll see them again no matter what I have to do." Rinoa shouted,"I will never be alone!"

"That's right, now lets show these guys what we can do." Zell smirked.

Demyx smiled as he began to wrap his fingers around the strings of the sitar, and as the music flowed through the air water clones began to form all around Rinoa and Zell. Immediately they charged at the two attacking them at every angle. Rinoa shot her blaster edge as the boomerang curved in every angle to take down several clones. Zell relied on his fists as he punched and kicked at each clone that came close to him. However no matther how many they defeated more formed and kept coming at them. Rinoa backed away and watched Demyx as he stroked the strings of his sitar. That had to be the source of his power and if she took that weapon out, then the water clones would evaporate. Rinoa raised her blaster edge and aiming at the sitar shot her boomerang. The boomerang reached the sitar but was knocked off course by a playing card.

"Honestly, do you really think we're that stupid." the still cloaked man spoke,"Of course being as intelligent as you are, you'd would of probably figured out the source of Demyx's clones. However I don't intend on letting you damage or even get close to it, unless you're forced to that is."

Rinoa frowned as she looked to Zell who had joined by her side once again. He was out of breath, tired from beating all the clones that kept coming. Things weren't turning out to their advantage, but then again when were they ever. Rinoa looked over every way to possibly even slightly damage the sitar, but there was just no way. With the water clones forming and atacking them, and this mysterious man who used a card to block her attack. There was just no way to win, but she wasn't going to give up.

"Got a plan?" Zell asked.

"Afraid not." Rinoa responded.

"Great." Zell muttered.

"Hey Rinoa, how about we make a deal?" Demyx shouted out,"If you agree to come with us, we'll stop this meaningless fight and I'll let your friend live."

"What's with you Demyx, did you suddenly grow a heart?" the man joked,"Its not like you to go around making deals with people, usually you're an all out guy."

Demyx tried to ignore him as he focused his attention back to Rinoa and Zell awaiting their reply. Of course Rinoa wasn't going to accept it, she was too stubborn to give up so easily even when there was just a glimmer of hope. If she wasn't as strong as she was, she would've given up years ago. These men seemed to know their friends, so there was hope, and if there was hope she would give it everything she had.

"Here's an idea for you, why don't you take that deal of yours and shove it up your ass." Rinoa shouted.

"Congratulations Demyx, you just got told off by a woman." the cloaked man laughed.

Demyx sighed and realized the only way to take Rinoa was by force, she reminded him too much of Larxene. He sighed once more and began to play a different note causing all his water clones to disperse into puddles. Suddenly a large bubble formed around Rinoa, trapping her inside. She attacked it but with no effort sitting there in the bubble trap. She then looked over at Zell who was slowly beginning to sink into a large puddle of water. They had underestimated these two men and now they were paying for it with their lives.

"Zell." Rinoa yelled within the bubble.

Zell tried to pull himself out, but the puddle just kept pulling him in like it was quicksand. No mater how much he resisted there was no way for him to get out. Slowly the bubble devoured him as his legs, then his body and then his head began to disappear into the puddle. As his head started to go under he could hear Rinoa yelling out to him, but there was nothing he could do. This was the end and it was all for nothing, he was never going to see his friends again. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his before it went under and with a tremendous amount of force he was pulled out of the puddle and thrown back onto the ground. Coughing up a storm and dripping wet, he looked up to see a woman dressed in black and with long back hair smiling down at him. Some how this woman seemed to pull him out of something he didn't even have the strength to get out of himself.

"You ok there, you looked like you guys were getting your butts kicked." the woman said.

Before Zell could answer though, she walked over to the bubble Rinoa was held in and took one swift punch at it. The bubble cracked and then broke into pieces releasing Rinoa from her trap. Zell looked on wide-eyed at how powerful this woman was, lucky she appeared to be on their side and not another one of these cloaked goons.

"Uhh, thanks." Rinoa said, confused by this new stranger.

"Sure, though you two look like you need help." the woman responded.

"Well if this isn't an unexpected surprise." the cloaked man laughed,"Unfortunately this doesn't change a thing, this only makes you cheaters."

"I don't know what this is about, but if you two don't leave then you're going to have to deal with me." the woman spoke.

"Why don't you try your luck and see what happens." the cloaked man laughed.

Demyx, still with a frown on his face, began to summon his water clones again. The woman sighed and with one punch hit the ground in front of her. The ground began to spit and break as if an earthquake had hit it and destroyed all of Demyx's clones. The man stood there with a blank face that still hid behind his hood seeing things had changed. Seemed that the only option, or the only option he was willing to take, was to retreat for the moment and come back for Rinoa when the time was right.

"They say when a gambler knows he will lose his fortune in a game of cards, he folds and leaves the table." the man said,"For now I will fold and play my chances at the slots, perhaps another time we can finish this."

The man turned and walked disappearing into a black portal that had formed. He again left Demyx to stare at Rinoa with baffled eyes, not quite understanding what motivated her so much. He smiled slightly and turned waving to the three behind him and disappeared into the black portal that closed behind him. The battle was finally over and Rinoa and Zell sighed with relief that they had won.

"Thank you, if it wasn't for you who knows what would have happened." Rinoa said.

"Sure thing, though you two don't look like you are from around her. I mean I just got her myself, but you look a bit different then the others I've seen walking around here." the woman replied.

"Oh we're not from here, we're from a different world. My name is Rinoa and this is my friend Zell." Rinoa said,"We were looking for our friends, but we ran into some trouble."

"So your your looking for your friends too, huh? I just happen to be looking for someone myself, I'm Tifa." Tifa spoke,""How 'bout we look together."


	4. Chapter 3

Before the story continues...I just wanted to say one thing  
to all those wonderful people who read my fanfic...and  
that is...PLEASE REVIEW...I'm begging here...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had certainly gotten better over the last twenty-four hours. There was no trace of their friends, but instead they were fooled and attacked by two unknown strangers. The only upside that had happened was the arrival of Tifa, who was now a new friend of theirs. Had it not been for her, they might not even be where they were now. Rinoa was just glad to have come across someone helpful, but she was still disappointed. She had so much hope of seeing Squall and now that hope had been shattered into pieces. Zell though had nothing on his mind but trying to figure out who Tifa really was. As he thought about it, Tifa had actually looked a lot like his...

"Zell, Tifa said this is called Traverse Town." Rinoa said, "Have you ever heard of it?"

"Um...no I don't think I have." Zell responded.

"Wouldn't be surprised that you two haven't, as I said I just got here so I don't know too much. As soon as our world was destroyed, I got separated from most of my friends. From what I've heard most of the people that lose their world come here, so its possible that your friends have been here." Tifa explained,"That's why I came here first."

Upon hearing that, Rinoa's eyes lit up. The possibility that any of their friends could have come this way was high. She looked down at her hands and smiled, things weren't turning out as bad as she thought. She then remembered Tifa say that she was also looking for someone, and immediately thought to ask her about it.

"You said you were looking for someone too?" Rinoa asked.

"Yeah, his name is Cloud." Tifa answered,"I looked for him, but it seems he's not here. That's not gonna stop me though, I'm not giving up until I find him. Though there are just a lot of places to look and so little time, and who's to say he isn't moving around himself which would make it harder to find him."

"I know what you mean, though I'm just curious about these heartless. They wiped out our world, your world and by what you've said many other worlds. I didn't even know worlds other then my own even existed. The thought that they be completely destroyed by this darkness is kinda scary." Rinoa said.

"Your telling me, those things creep me out every time I see them. From what I've found out, heartless are souls without a heart, hence the name, which is why they take people's hearts. There are a lot of different heartless too, like the shadow heartless which you've probably encountered before. Along with the heartless are nobodies, which are the empty shells that are left when the heart and soul leaves the body. There are a lot of nobodies too, though I've never come across any before." Tifa explained.

"Who were those guys who attacked us back there, were they heartless or nobodies?" Zell asked.

"Beats me, I've never seen them before. Though when they left they traveled though the darkness, that black mass they went through. It makes me wonder if they have any connection to Cloud." Tifa said,"They obviously wanted you guys for something important, so I'd be careful cause they'll probably come knocking again."

Zell moaned as his head hit the table. As much he didn't want to fight those jerks again, there was just a small part of him that wanted to get revenge for what they did. Zell had so much hope, hope that he'd see his friends again. He was so hyped that he'd get to see Squall, Selphie, Quistis, not so much Irvine, and yes even Seifer. Then that hope was quickly shattered by two people, two people who he didn't even know. He was concerned more though about Rinoa, they said they wanted her and as Tifa mentioned they probably wouldn't give up so easily. Whatever they wanted her for, Zell wasn't going to let them get Rinoa and at any cost. To him they were heartless, because no one with a heart would do what they did.

"Well we best be going, we have a lot of worlds to search and only a short life to do it in." Tifa said, standing up.

"Please don't say short life." Zell mumbled.

"How are we going to get to others worlds like this, are we gonna go though a portal like we did to get here?" Rinoa asked.

"Oh no, I have a small gummi ship I purchased not too long ago. I use it to travel from one world to another." Tifa answered.

Rinoa shook her head in acknowledgment and could not wait to see what this gummi ship was. So many new things were making themselves known all at once and she felt overwhelmed but excited by it all. Tifa nodded and started for the exit to the First District. Rinoa and Zell got up and followed, glancing around the small town one last time. They had just gotten here and already they were leaving, but off on what they originally set out to do. As they passed the gates to the First District they came to what seemed to be a large docking port. Along the port were several small ships, which Rinoa guessed were gummi ships which reminded her of the airships back home. They walked up to Tifa's small gummi ship, which was pretty big and had a dark metal hull. The ship extended to a pretty long length, and had two large wing-like designs at the end, sort of reminding her of the Ragnarok. There also seemed to be a small weapon system attached to the front, maybe for defense if ever needed.

A small hatch door opened as Tifa stepped in and motioned for Rinoa and Zell to follow. Inside everything looked bigger, as there were several rooms that connected to each other by several doors. The room they were in appeared to be a small dining room and kitchen. It had a table, a built-in booth to one side and stove, refrigerator and several small counters to the other side. Ahead of them appeared to be the control room where Tifa sat, closed the hatch door and started up the ship. As she did the ship rocked and then disconnected from the port finally taking off and leaving Traverse Town.

"Well this is my gummi ship, I call her Inochi " Tifa said with a smile,"Anyways this is the cockpit , or basically where I pilot the ship. Behind you where we entered is the dining room and kitchen, behind that is the bathroom and quarters. There are only two rooms, so me and Rinoa are gonna have to bunk in one. Behind that is the cargo room and just below that is the engine room."

"Whats our destination?" Rinoa asked.

"Oh, well I learned of a world called Agrabah which is not too far from here. I thought I stop there and look around, maybe your friends might be there." Tifa responded.

"Yes, maybe." Rinoa said.

The ship continued on its new course, though unaware of what waited for them at Agrabah. Far from Traverse Town, four cloaked figures stood and talked in a white room. They were in a large, white castle in another world that was unknown to all but a few. One of them was Demyx who stood against the wall looking down at his feet, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. The other was Luxord, the man who was previously with Demyx when they had attacked Rinoa and Zell. The other man had long blue hair, and an X shape crossed his face. The other male remained hidden under his cloak, as he talk with the three men.

"You two will go Agrabah and find out as much as you can about this new person, look things over but don't make a big fight unless necessary." the cloaked man instructed.

"What about me, I should be the one to go with Luxord if not by myself." Demyx objected,"I'm certainly capable of handling the situation, I was just caught off guard last time."

"No, you will stay behind for now." the cloaked man said,"When it is time, you will be informed as well. Now hurry out, they should arrive in Agrabah within a day."

"This should be fun." Luxord laughed.

"Indeed." The blue haired man agreed.


	5. Chapter 4

What seemed like forever, as a day passed while Inochi sailed through the universe on its course for Agrabah. A beeping noise went off letting Tifa and Rinoa, who were both eating breakfast in the kitchen, know that they were approaching their destination. Zell was still sound asleep in his room, snoring louder then the ship's engine. Tifa walked into the cockpit and looked out the window to see Agrahbah in the distance. Smiling she sat down and turned off auto-pilot taking control of the ship again. Rinoa entered and sat beside her gazing out at Agrabah as it got closer and closer to them.

"So that's Agrabah, huh?" Rinoa said.

"Yep, I don't know much about it except that its near a huge desert." Tifa told her.

"Lets hope that Squall, or someone is there. Lets hope Cloud is there too." Rinoa said with a smile.

"Yep!" Tifa smiled back.

As they neared Agrabah, Rinoa went back and called for Zell to wake up. She opened the door to see his face leaning against the wall, drool dripping from his mouth and in a deep sleep where even the loudest noise couldn't wake him. However, Rinoa's voice seem to be the key as she put her mouth next to Zell's right ear and with a deep breath yelled as loud as she could. Zell woke up in shock and jumped so far up his head hit the top of his room before he came crashing to the floor. Rinoa chuckled looking at the now dazed and confused man that at infront of her.

"We're gonna be in Agrabah soon, so you might wanna get up and get ready." Rinoa said.

"Yeah, but did you have to yell so loud." Zell whined, rubbing his head.

"If I hadn't you wouldn't of woken up, silly." Rinoa laughed.

Zell groaned as he got up and got dressed after Rinoa left the room. As soon as he was ready, he stepped out and walked into cockpit. Looking out the window, he was amazed at what he saw before him. A huge world that looked much different then his own stood in front of him, and that very world could hold the very people they were looking for. Then again it could also hold the trouble they were trying to avoid, hoping not to run into those two cloaked kidnappers again. The Inochi slowly made its decent into Agrabah's atmosphere until Tifa found a safe place to put her down. Looking around, she found a flat sandy area just near the walls to the town to land ship. Landing it nice and smooth, Tifa turned off the controls and looked back to Zell and Rinoa with a smile.

"Welcome to Agrabah." Tifa laughed.

The trio soon walked out of the ship into the hot, blazing sun of the desert. To the left was a huge wall surrounding the city and an entrance, and to their right was sand as far as the eye could see. Tifa walked up to the entrance and peered in seeing a busy street with vendors lined up in an aisle. For being out in the desert, this place seemed to be pretty populated. She wondered how so many people could survive out here, but then again they could just be on the end of the desert. She then turned back hearing a loud grumble behind her, seeing Zell holding his stomach.

"Well that's what you get for sleeping over breakfast." Rinoa said.

"Oh man, I'm hungry." Zell groaned, "I'm gonna go see if they have a small restaurant somewhere around here, I'll catch up with you two later." 

Rinoa sighed as she watched Zell run off into Agrabah. She looked over to Tifa, who looked quite confused, and shrugged as the two walked in and looked around. Before they could start searching, a monkey jumped down and landed on Tifa's head. The monkey leaned down and stared at Tifa with his huge eyes. The monkey had a small hat on a small purple vest that swayed with the slight breeze that went by. It said nothing but stared down Tifa as it munched away at the apple in his hands.

"Hey, how dare you two use your pet to steal my goods." A peddler yelled, as he approached them, "I demand you pay up now or I will report you to the guard."

"Hey wait, this isn't our monkey!" Rinoa said with a worried look.

"You expect me to believe that a monkey would just run up to some random person and sit on their head, you're not fooling me girl." the peddler argued, "Now pay up!"

"But..." Rinoa stopped, as she was interrupted by an approaching man.

"Abu, you sure know how to cause trouble. Here this should cover it, sorry for the trouble." the stranger said, tossing a coin over to the peddler.

The peddler took the coin and walked off mumbling to himself. The monkey quickly hopped off of Tifa and over to man's shoulder. He smiled at them and wore a purple vest and white pants held up by a red sash. Both Rinoa and Tifa were slightly confused by the man's smile, although acting if everything was quite alright.

"Its fine, don't worry about it." Tifa said.

"Yeah, Abu has a tendency to get into trouble and then drag others into it. Say you two don't look like your from around here, are you two from another?" the stranger asked, "Are you friends of Sora, Donald and Goofy?"

Tifa was a little dazed by the suddenness of all these questions, especially coming from someone she didn't even know. Rinoa stood there through trying to recall her thoughts, Sora, she had heard that name before. Back when they were still in Selbina, when they were talking with King Mickey, or that impostor she should say. He mentioned a keyblade wielder, a boy named Sora. Its then she thought that if she talked with this boy, she maybe could find out where Squall and the others had went.

"Yes and no." Tifa answered,"We're just here looking for our friends, perhaps you've seen a guy with spiky hair or a guy wielding a gunblade?"

"Spiky hair, sounds like Sora but if you were looking for him then I guess you would know him. Sorry, I haven't seen anyone around like that but maybe I could help you guys look around, the least I can do for what Abu did. By the way, I'm Aladdin." Aladdin said, introducing himself.

"Tifa." Tifa mumbled.

"Hi Aladdin, I'm Rinoa." Rinoa said, with a smile,"You mentioned Sora, do you know where I could find him? He might know were my friends are."

"I'm afraid not, haven't seen him in awhile. Although heartless have been popping up suddenly, which is why I asked if you knew him." Aladdin responded.

Rinoa frowned at the mention of heartless, it seemed like they were everywhere she went. The only place she hadn't encountered them at was Selbina in Vana'diel. There was a chance though that heartless would eventually evade that world, but she couldn't bare to let that happen. Vana'diel was home to lot of people and she couldn't let the heartless disturb the peaceful place that it was. Even though her promise was to an impostor, she still kept to it in her heart. She promised to help stop the heartless, so that no one would have to fear the darkness ever again.

"Well then Aladdin, I appreciate the help. So maybe you can tell us a little about this place, while we look around." Tifa said with a slight nod.

Aladdin nodded in agreement and three started down the busy street. Aladdin began to explain about Agrabah as they all looked around for any signs of Squall, Cloud or anyone else. Though they were unaware they were being watched. Far in the distance on top of a large building stood two cloaked men. One was Luxord and the other man being the blue-haired man from before, known as Saix. They watched the trio as they stood trying to decipher what their next move should be.

"I'm cold." Luxord spoke.

"In a desert?" Saix asked, confused.

"No, not temperature. A player on a losing streak oftens refers to themselves as cold, in other words I haven't been doing too well at the slots." Luxord said,"However, I do feel that we will be receiving comps soon."

"We are not in a casino." Saix responded.

Luxord just laughed at the comment, as he continued to gaze down upon the three. He was particularly interested in the one girl, one they learned was Tifa. In their short encounter, he was impressed with how much power she proved to have. If Demyx and him would have stayed, he might of had to gotten in the battle himself. Though if it came down to that now, Luxord was all for a fight. If it meant his chance play a game of cards with Tifa, then he would certainly take it. For now they had to lay low, and find out as much information on Tifa. To make matters worse, the girls were with another person, one the Organization knew was important to the well-being of this world. That and the young man they were with before had disappeared in to the crowd of people below, though he wasn't as much of an issue as Rinoa and Tifa were.

Back down in the streets Rinoa, Tifa and Aladdin continued to search for Squall, Cloud and the others. Aladdin had been told the details and agreed to help as much as possible, along with Abu and Carpet who had joined them. The two girls sort of reminded him of Sora when he said he was looking for his friends as well. It seemed that the universe they all shared was smaller then he thought. Though he was curious to know if the heartless appearing had to do with their arrival. He just hoped that whatever the trouble was, it would pass soon. Though that never appeared to be the case and he knew that.

"We looked everywhere, I guess they're not here either." Rinoa sighed, disappointment in her tone.

"Sorry, wish I could help." Aladdin said, feeling guilty for not being more helpful.

The entire time they had been searching though, something had been bothering Tifa. The same darkness she had sensed back in Traverse Town she sensed here. It was possible that the two cloaked men from before were here and watching.She glanced around trying to find them and quickly spotted two dark figures in the distance. There was a good chance they could get in a surprise attack. Escaping was too obvious, considering the only gummi ship on this world was theirs and if they tried to leave they might be attacked. They were after Rinoa and Zell, so Tifa thought it best to leave the decision up to her.

"Rinoa, remember those two guys who attacked you at Traverse Town." Tifa said,"Well they're here too and watching us, we can surprise attack them if you want. Escaping would be pretty hard cause it would be obvious, and we don't know what they are planning to do. I'll leave it up to you though."

"No, this time I'll pay them back for what they did." Rinoa said, "I show them they messed with the wrong people."

"Hey, if you got some bullies bothering you. I'll help you out..." Aladdin spoke.

"I was hoping you both would say that, now I got a plan." Tifa said, as they discussed what they were going to do.

Both Luxord and Saix stood up top the same building keeping close eyes on the three. Without notice they all began to split and disappear into the crowded streets, as Luxord traced the streets with his eyes hoping to regain vision of them again. Suddenly a projectile came hurling at him, as he jumped back barely dodging the attack. Saix stepped back slowly spotting a flying carpet appearing over the edge.

"Looks like we've been found." Luxord said.

"Why are you following us, what do you want with me?" Rinoa yelled out, already losing her patience.

"How about this, if you come with us and tell your friends to stay out of it, then I'll answer any question you may have." Luxord said in a joking manner.

"You...that's vile!" Aladdin yelled at Luxord, angry at the man.

"You should just leave, you're nothing but a mouse caught between a lion's feud." Luxord said.

Saix extended his arm and his claymore appeared in his hand. Luxord looked at him and was surprised by his action, although it seemed avoiding battle was out of the question now. Hopefully Xemnes wouldn't see this as an act of rebellion, Luxord didn't want to be put in the same class as those other traitors with Marluxia. Plus, this proved to be the opportune moment to play a game of chance with Tifa.

"Deal with girl in black, I will take care Rinoa." Saix said, no emotion in his tone.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Luxord laughed, as he jumped off the building tempting Tifa to follow.

Tifa looked to Rinoa, who nodded telling her she was ok and to follow after Luxord. Aladdin nodded as well and with Carpet and Abu by his side joined Rinoa in her stand against this new enemy. Tifa quickly followed after Luxord who had taken off in the distance. She had a feeling he was leading her to an open place, which she preferred. If the place was large and uncrowded, then no one would get hurt. Back on top of the building Rinoa stood staring down the new stranger who stood in front of her, blaster edge in hand ready to strike or defend if need be. She wanted to take revenge on this man, but she had questions first. Many questions that needed answers, answers that only these cloaked men could give her.

"What do you want with me, why am I so important to you?" Rinoa shouted out, repeating the same question.

"Hearts, its what gives people emotion. Love, happiness, joy, sadness, and even hate." Saix spoke,"I strive for these emotions, I strive for a heart. If I could feel sorry for you, I surely would. However, I can not fell your pain because I can't feel pain. Once I have a heart, then I will sadness for what I have done."

With that, Saix rose his claymore above his head as both Rinoa and Aladdin prepared for the unexpected. A couple streets away, in a deserted part of town Luxord stood waiting for Tifa to make her arrival. The girl jumped down in front of him and stared the man down in anger. Luxord could only help but smile at her anger, trying to find some amusement out of it. Though if they were to fight, it would only be fun if they both placed a bet on the table.

"If I'm not mistaken, both you and Rinoa are both looking for someone?" Luxord asked.

"Yes that's right, what's your point?" Tifa responded, ready to strike at a moments notice.

"My point is that I will make a deal with you, we'll play a game and whoever wins gets what's left in the pile. We'll play a little game of cards, and if you win I will tell you the location of both yours and her friends." Luxord said,"However, if you are to lose then you must give me your heart."

"My heart?" Tifa asked, confused by the Luxords request,"You're a heartless."

"Not quite, you see a strong-willed heart like yours is hard to come by. A nobody like myself could use such a thing, so do we have a deal?" Luxord posed.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Tifa asked.

"I am a man of my word, I do not cheat on any bet I make." Luxord responded.

"Then its a deal, but if you screw me over you'll regret it." Tifa said.

"Agreed." Luxord laughed.

As the fight between Rinoa, Aladdin and Saix began and the fight between Tifa and Luxord started, another part of the group was else where finishing his meal. Zell walked out of the diner with a full stomach and unaware of what was taking place. He yawned feeling as if he couldn't eat another bite, but then his mood changed as he jumped back in defense. Standing in front of him was a familiar face, one he had hoped not see.

"You..." Zell muttered.

"Relax I'm not here to fight..." Demyx said,"...I'm here to help."


	6. Chapter 5

Ok first off...thanks to all those who have read my fanfic...believe me its much appreciated!

Second, thanks C2-Chikaru for your review, the combination of Tifa, Rinoa and Zell pretty much helped out the storyline...it was either that or they suddenly bought a gummi ship...so I just went with the latter. Also, I don't plan to put every world from the KH universe into my fanfic but just a few...including one or two Disney worlds that weren't in KHhint hint...but anyways sorry for dragging my fanfic out...guess you'll just have to read and find out what's gonna happen...heh...thanks again!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What was this guy saying? First he attacked them and now he wanted to help them. This guy was either crazy or he was up to something, still Zell kept his distance not giving into a word he said.

"Help, I'm not buying that!" Zell said, "Why would you wanna help us, after what you've done?"

"I can't figure that out myself, if I knew I'd tell you. Though I can tell you its something about Rinoa that ticks the clock off a little, I wish I knew what it was." Demyx stated.

"Rinoa? What are you saying?" Zell asked, confused by Demyx's intentions.

"That's just it, I don't know what I'm saying. As a matter of fact I shouldn't be saying this, not because I'll get in major trouble, but because, well, I don't know. Maybe you don't need a heart to feel emotions." Demyx said, "Anyways what I'm really trying to say is, I'm here to help by telling you what is going on. They want Rinoa, or more precisely her heart. For some reason, her heart seems to be important. Why I don't know but that's what the Organization is after, so do me a favor and make sure that doesn't happen."

"I don't get it..." Zell said.

"You don't need to, just know you got to stop us before we stop you. Right now your friends are fighting with two other Organization members, they were told not to take Rinoa just yet but that won't stop them from killing your other friend. Be careful because one of them is more pretty powerful, he uses a a weapon called a claymore. Get hit by that thing and you'll take major damage." Demyx explained, "That's all I can say for now, I gotta get out of here before they find out that I've disappeared. Remember what I said!"

Demyx quickly backed up into the darkness, it closing behind him and leaving Zell there to figure out what had just happened. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but what this guy was saying had to be true. His intentions though were still unclear, but Zell was glad to have finally figured out what was going on. This guy, this Demyx person seemed to be different and maybe Zell was right about him being a heartless. Or maybe he was a Nobody, like Tifa had mentioned before. Whatever the case was, Zell had to think it over later. Right now his friends were in trouble, and he had to get to Rinoa before the Organization got to her heart. Zell quickly raced off passed the crowds of people in hopes of getting to his friends before it was too late.

Back on top of the building, Aladdin and Rinoa dodged Saix's attacks left and right. Carpet swooped in towards Saix to distract him while Rinoa took a shot, but Saix saw through it and deflected the attack striking Carpet to the ground. Aladdin quickly rushed over to his friend, seeing he had a few cuts and tears but nothing major. He was a magical carpet after all, so he couldn't necessarily die from attacks with such a weapon like Saix's. 

"Carpet!" came a cry in the distance, "Carpet, ol' buddy ol' pal speak to me. Speak to me!"

A large blue man with a long black beard suddenly appeared before Carpet and Aladdin. He picked up carpet as tears drained from his eyes acting as if he had just lost a friend. He suddenly jumped up and a detective's uniform covered his body as he took a smoke from the pipe in his hand.

"I believe my dear Watson, that this here is murder!" the blue man said.

"Genie, he's ok." Aladdin said, getting up as carpet flew off to the side next to Abu.

"Of course Watson, brilliant deduction. Simply billiant!" Genie spoke, the detective cloths on him vanishing, "Oh Al what have got yourself into now, you've got yourself a babe, a baddie and one heck of an ordeal. Say you mind if I say hello to your new lady friend?"

As Genie made a crack of the whole situation, Saix gave them no time to converse as he took his Claymore and slammed it into the ground. The building, which was already cracked falling apart from Saix's previous attacks, started to collapse bringing everyone down with it. Saix quickly jumped off and down to the ground in a safe area. As the pieces of rubble and rock hit the ground, the streets shook and created a panic among the people there. Genie quickly rose up knocking the rubble off of him. He had shielded Rinoa and Aladdin during the fall, as Carpet quickly grabbed Abu and flew to safety.

"Thanks Genie, though do you mind doing us one more favor." Aladdin asked, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Hmmm, let me guess you want me to vanquish the blueberry boy, that I can do Al." Genie said.

Though before they had time to react, Saix again sent another blow at them pushing Rinoa, Aladdin and Genie back. Rinoa and Aladdin struggled to get to their feet, hoping that with Genie now the battle would hopefully turn around. Rinoa knew in her mind though that this guy was not easy, but perhaps the strongest person she had ever came across. She looked over to Aladdin, who seemed to have a lot of confidence in his blue friend who had just joined them in battle.

"Time, it shortens for all of you if you continue to resist." Saix said, still no emotion in his tone.

"I'd rather die fighting then give in and go with you heartless people." Rinoa shouted out at him.

"Heartless, I am not heartless but nobody. " Saix said, "If it weren't for your strong determination, this fight would be meaningless."

Saix delivered yet another blow pushing Rinoa, Aladdin and Genie back even further. Genie thought long and hard, until he came up with an idea and a lit bulb appeared over his head. Without word, Genie spun around and suddenly appeared with with sub-machine gun in his hand.

"And who are you?" Saix asked.

"You worst nightmare." Genie answered in an accent, firing the machine gun.

Saix retreated back not expecting such a damaging attack. He suddenly recognized the man as a Genie, one who had previously been with Sora before. He was dangerous given the situation and also a problem, but then again they were given orders not to take Rinoa yet. Saix began to wonder himself what Xemnes was waiting for. First, they were given orders to take her and now they were given orders to wait no matter what problem came up. This was the first time Saix and Xemnes were on opposite sides of thinking, as the him and Xemnes usually thought alike. Whatever Xemnes' intentions were, they were not going to help him here. It was best to just retreat from here on, but something drove him to eliminate that Genie. If he did it now, then that blue-nuisance would not present a problem later on.

"Genie, I have an idea." Aladdin said, "Can you combine with Rinoa's weapon to form a better one?"

"No problem Al, one ultra mega-weapon coming up." Genie answered, returning to his normal self.

"Do you think if I distract him, you can get a direct shot in?" Aladdin asked, turning to Rinoa.

"If you can distract him long enough, I can guarantee you a clear shot." Rinoa answered.

Aladdin nodded and turned to Saix, who came out from cover. Wishing he had his scimitar on him, Aladdin charged at Saix fist first. He jumped in the air only to get knocked away by Saix's claymore. Getting up he knew he had to hold on long enough for Rinoa to get a clear shot, but having taken so much damage already he didn't know much longer he could hold on. Clutching his left arm, he could feel that it was broken adding on to the wounds and blood covered his body. What a day this had turned out to be, he was only supposed to be out for a nice walk. Aladdin yet again charged at Saix and as he continued to do so Rinoa prepared her Blaster Edge. Genie had transformed himself into a giant boomerang and equipped himself to Rinoa's weapon.

"Let's do this...uh...Al's friend!" Genie said, as he was aimed at Saix.

"It's Rinoa." Rinoa responded, aiming and then taker her shot.

Genie soared through the air at a great speed towards Saix, only to miss by an inch and hit the wall instead. Saix somehow managed to dodge him leaving both Rinoa and Aladdin stunned. At that moment it was as if there was no chance this guy was going to get beat, leaving her in the same predicament again. Tears started falling from her face, beginning to wonder why all this was happening. All she wanted to do was see her friends, see Squall again. Why where they doing this to her, what did they want? Who were they? Saix looked on at her and then turned his attention back to Genie who was completely out by the impact of hitting the wall. Raising his claymore and about to deliver the final blow, he was stopped by a familiar voice. Another man in a black cloak stood near him, two strange circular spiked weapons in his hands.

"Time to leave, seems you two are gonna be in a lot of trouble for this one." the cloaked man spoke, raising his hands with every word he said, "Luxord?"

"So it seems." Saix replied, "He went off to fight his own fight."

"Great." the cloaked man said, shaking his head as if he was the one having a bad day.

"You..." Saix said, turning to Rinoa, "You have proved weak yet your heart is strong, a quality that we both need but lack. Prepare for our next encounter, I will not be stopped next time from taking what I need."

Saix walked off and disappeared into the darkness, the cloaked man shrugging and following behind him. The battle was over for now, but it left Rinoa in tears and shaking from head to toe. She collapsed only to be caught by Zell who had finally arrived. Aladdin sat nearby dazed, tired and not able to stand. Genie still out from his encounter with the wall. Zell looked around and noticed the the two amongst the rubble from the collapsed building. What was once a busy street filled with people, vendors and children tossing balls back in forth was now a wreck. It had looked like an earthquake had struck and demolished everything in this one area. He just hoped that no innocents were caught in the crossfire.

"Zell...what do they want?" Rinoa cried, clutching to him with tears raining from her face, "Why can't they just let us see our friends again?"

Zell could have told her, but the situation at the moment didn't seem to help if he did. Looking down at her quivering body, he started to feel a deep hatred and resentment for this Organization, a name he had heard twice now. At the moment there was nothing he could say but apologize for not being here sooner.

"Sorry I didn't get here in time." Zell said, suddenly noticing Tifa wasn't around, "Where is Tifa?"

"She followed after the other guy in the cloak, hopefully she is doing better then we did." Aladdin answered, "Go help your friend, I'll take care of Rinoa."

"Can I trust you?" Zell asked.

"Well they certainly didn't like me either, we're on the same side here." Aladdin responded with a slight laugh, "Meet us at the palace in the back of Agrabah, we'll be waiting for you both."

Zell sighed and looked down noticing Rinoa was out, probably from exhaustion. Going with his instincts, Zell carried her over to Aladdin who had finally managed to stand up. Carpet flew down with Abu, as Aladdin took Rinoa and placed her on Carpet. Zell nodded and ran off after Tifa in the direction Aladdin pointed. He just hoped Tifa was having better luck, and that he could make it to her in time.


	7. Chapter 6

Big apologizes for a short chapter, but I can promise you the next one will be much longer...

Insane Mako Amber Eyes-(wow long name)anyways...I left a comment in response to your reviews(Thanks BTW) on my Xanga site(if you haven't checked already, though I just updated there)...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tifa waited for Luxord, prepared for anything that would be thrown her way. The last encounter with this guy didn't prove much, as the other blonde male was the one she had fought off originally. She was just interested to see what cards this guy had up his sleeve. She was surprised when Luxord had literally pulled a deck of cards from out his right sleeve and laid one one the ground in front of him. The card suddenly grew to an enormous size as it stood up and several other large cards began to form around Tifa and Luxord. Before long, they were both trapped in a circle surrounded by several playing cards. All cards were numbered except for one which was blank, as Luxord jumped back and into the blank card becoming a part of it. The cards than dropped face down and began to scatter in front of Tifa.

"How about a little game of memory?" Luxord said, as the cards stood back up facing away from Tifa.

Unsure of which one was exactly Luxord, she just took a wild guess and punched at the nearest card. The card exploded and she was thrown back with tremendous force, the cards disappearing as Luxord became visible again. Tifa quickly got up surprised by the unexpected attack, she should have known there was some type of trick to it all. Luxord just laughed as it all seemed to be nothing more then a game to him.

"See you can't just choose any random card and hope that its the right, you have to use skill and luck to win." Luxord said, "Otherwise, well let's just say it's game over for you."

"Thanks for the heads up, now I know!" Tifa responded.

A smirk appeared on Luxord's face as he raised his figures up and snapped them twice. Much to her surprise, Tifa was turned into a piece of die. She looked in horror noticing her physical body was gone, and wondered if she had been transformed or trapped in a die. She looked back over to Luxord who laughed, as he tossed dice around in his hand.

"I'll roll and if I get above a four, you will take major damage." he said, tossing the dice between his hand, "However, if I get below a four then I will take major damage. If I get a four exactly, then we both take damage. A fair even game you might say."

Luxord then tossed the dice into the air tossing and turning until they hit the ground. Both dice rolled around until they both landed on four, causing an explosion beneath both Tifa and Luxord to go off. Luxord jumped back quickly, but still was hit from the attack as he could feel the wound on his lower leg. He took a chance and paid for it, and now this wound would not make the battle any easier. Tifa was still in die form so that gave him an advantage, however that trick only lasted a certain amount of time. He thought that if he took risks in this battle, luck would turn in his favor. Obviously he was wrong, but for now he had to make the most of the situation at hand. Tifa hopped around dodging the attack but still taking heavy damage. She wasn't sure how injured she was being in this new form, but she could feel the intense pain rushing through her body.

A giant card appeared in back of Luxord, as he disappeared into it making the card multiply. Again dozens of playing cards began to surround Tifa, as they turned face up towards her to reveal Luxord in one. He threw out several smaller cards in his hand as they hit Tifa cutting her and knocking her over. Making cards as sharp as needles was one of Luxord's many talents, and he planned to display as many as needed to win this bet. The cards turned face down and began to circle Tifa again, repeating the same process but instead Luxord threw exploding dice instead of cards. The explosion knocked Tifa back and out of the circle of cards returning her to her normal body. While she was glad to be back to her normal self, wounds now covered her as blood poured from them making her weaker. She knew she couldn't give up though, it was all for the sake of finding Rinoa and Zell's friends. It was for the sake of Rinoa and Zell, but also for her was well. If she won then she might have a clue as to where to find Cloud. She might be able to see him once again.

Tifa looked around at the cards that now scattered face down in front of her. Trying to remember which one she saw Luxord in, her eyes followed the cards as they shuffled in all different positions. She then charged at one and with all her might delivered a punch striking her fist right through the card. Luxord was forced out after been hit in the gut and tossed to the ground, the cards turning to dust as he did. Holding his stomach, he slowly got up and smiled slightly looking up at Tifa. He wasn't sure how much longer this battle was going to drag on, but if he went any longer there was a chance he might lose. It seemed that Lady Luck appeared to be on Tifa's side more then she was on his. Though now losing did not seem so bad to him, as he knew he aways had his opportunity later. Plus it was Rinoa's heart which was the ultimate goal, Tifa's would make a fine addition but wasn't necessary to retrieve.

"Looks like you play the game well." Luxord said.

"Yeah but I'm not much of a gambler." Tifa responded, coughing up blood, "Call it beginner's luck."

"Ha, I was thinking the same exact thing." Luxord laughed, "Not only are you strong, but you're smart too. Though I hate to say it is now time to..."

"Luxord, time to leave." came a voice from behind.

Luxord turned around to see a cloaked man, the same that confronted Saix earlier, standing behind him. Luxord sighed as he turned back to Tifa, who was exhausted and bleeding heavily. Their battle had only gone on for several minutes yet both had taken quite a lot of hits, and now it seemed it would end in a draw. Though Luxord, even though Tifa hadn't won, decided to keep to his word in revealing the location of her friends. There was nothing he hated more then a cheater anyways.

"Even though we both fold, I will still keep to my end of the deal." Luxord said, "I'll tell you where your friends are."

Zell raced through the streets as he finally made it to Tifa, just managing to see Luxord and another man leave disappearing into a dark mass. Again he was to late to help and judging by Tifa's appearance things didn't go to well for her either. He quickly rushed over to her, giving her support and trying to stop the bleeding by wrapping cloth around her wounds.

"Zell I know..." she said, breathing heavily from the fight, "...I know where your friends are."


	8. Chapter 7

To think that one of the Organization members would help and tell him what was going on and what they wanted Rinoa for, that was just absurd. Now they told them the location of their friends, which seemed too strange. What were these people, foes turned friends? Or were they just trying to deceive them? Zell started to doubt whether what Demyx had told him was true or not, but it was hard to tell that he didn't mean it. For some reason he appeared different from the rest of them, or the ones he had met so far at least. What was their motive, that was the real question. Tifa, who was being supported up by Zell, pointed to the castle gates in front of them. Behind it was a large castle made by white marble and had several blue strips going across the top. When they entered through the gates, a garden surrounded the stone walkway with two large fountains on each side. The garden was decorated with an assortment of flowers that colored the garden as if it were a painting of many mixed colors. The castle doors were large and led to an entrance of the most decorated and lively room the two of them had ever seen.

"You must be Zell and Tifa, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin have been expecting you." the butler said, as he greeted them, "If you will follow me please, we will have our nurses attend to your wounds."

"Thank you." Tifa mumbled as both her and Zell followed after the butler.

Leading them to a large room, they were greeted by Genie who was alive and conscious in the corner, Aladdin who had been patched up and a woman in blue sitting next to him. Zell sat Tifa down in a chair beside him, as the nurses began to tend to her wounds almost immediately. She had alot of cuts and bruises, but nothing appeared life-threatening or too major. As the nurses finished bandaging her up, Zell began the conversation that hopefully would answer a lot of questions on everyone's mind.

"I know what they are up too, I know why they want Rinoa." Zell said.

"Such a mess." Tifa mumbled to herself.

"Well first let me say that we had quite a fumble with that other guy, me and Genie are fine but Rinoa seemed to be badly injured. She's in the one of our rooms with one of our doctors attending to her." Aladdin spoke, "Oh and let me introduce you to Princess Jasmine, she is the providing all the help."

"Thank you." both Zell and Tifa said, thankful for the stranger's service.

"No thank you, who knows what those two men would have done if you hadn't fended them off. Aladdin had told me about what was going on and about you three, if there is anything I can do to help feel free to ask." Jasmine spoke, a smile upon her face.

"Your doing enough already." Zell responded, " The stress is probably getting to Rinoa, and its too much for her to handle. I'm just glad she is getting the chance to rest, things have been hectic for her lately."

"You said you knew what was going on Zell, what they wanted Rinoa for?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, as strange as it may seem one of the Organization members came to me. It was water clone guy, the one that attacked us before. He said he wanted to help and told me they wanted Rinoa's heart." Zell explained, "He said her heart was important for some reason, but he didn't know any details. At first I didn't want believe him, but from the way he said it he seemed to be telling the truth."

The room went silent after Zell's brief answer, unknowing as too what to say. Zell thought about Rinoa, how he was unable to help her when she really needed it. He cursed himself out in his mind for not being there, only to go back to wishing he knew where Squall was. He then remembered Tifa telling him about knowing the location of their friends and instantly brought up the question.

"So they told you were they were?" Zell asked, turning to Tifa.

"Yeah, said it was a prize from winning the game." Tifa responded, "From what I heard your friend Squall doesn't go by that name anymore, he goes by Leon. Apparently he is currently in a town called Hollow Bastion, which is pretty far off from where we are now. Your friend Selphie is currently residing in a world called Destiny Islands. He also said there have also been reports of a man with a gun and a female with a whip traveling around, there last appearance was in a world called Monstropolis."

"That souns like it would be Quistis and Irvine, this is great news. We now know where they are. Oh I can't wait to tell Rinoa, she'll be soo excited to here this." Zell said, feeling relieved, "Hey wait, what about your friend?"

"From what he said, Cloud has been chasing after a tall man with a long sword and long silver hair. From what he had heard, he was recently spotted at a castle also in Hollow Bastion but there was no guarantee he is still there."

Again, the room went silent as Tifa's mind drifted off to Cloud. That stubborn fool, he wouldn't rest until he knew for sure. Until he knew that Sephiroth was long gone, cease to exist not just in her world but all worlds. He couldn't give up that fact, he would never give up chasing after Sephiroth. She hated that man for what he had done, in the past and now. That man had caused so much pain and so much hurt to so many people. If there was a way to stop him herself, she would have done it long time ago. After the many trials they had faced, Sephiroth, Hojo, Kadaj, Shinra, it never amounted to anything good. Hearing Aladdin's voice, she focused back on the subject at hand. If Cloud was still in Hollow Bastion, then maybe she could stop him from chasing after Sephirtoh. It was a long shot, but it was a shot nonetheless.

"Can we trust that them, after what they did." Aladdin asked.

"Its a lead, whether he was lying or not." Tifa answered, "After this we will head out to those locations, and hopefully our friends will be there."

Zell nodded in agreement; as Tifa said it was a lead even if it couldn't be proved true. At this point anything, any clues or hints, would help. Things were tight right now and who knew when the Organization would strike again. They had to focus on finding there friends, finding Squall so all of this would come to and end. Though what bothered him was Squall's sudden name change. It didn't seem like a big deal, but what came out of it. Surely he knew that his friends would be looking for him, and changing his name would make it more difficult to find him. Unless he believed them to be dead, given up on what mattered most to him. If that were true, then Zell knew he owed Squall, or Leon, one major ass kicking. He should know better then to give up on his friends, thinking that they would go down that easy. However, Zell didn't know if that was the case or not. He just hoped Squall hadn't given up hope so fast. Zell then looked up at the man who had just entered the room. He was wearing a long white jacket and from his appearence Zell guessed he was a doctor.

"Rinoa is resting now, she'll be ok though she'll need to rest for a while." the doctor said, "I'm afraid you guys will be here for a weeks time, she won't be able to fully recover if she goes anywhere soon. It seems she is under high amounts of stress, and that isn't making things any easier for her health. As I said though, with rest she should be fine."

"That's good to hear." Tifa said.

"Can I see her?" Zell asked.

The doctor nodded and Zell quickly got up and followed the doctor to Rinoa's room. Tifa sat there now facing a new dilemma. She was hoping to act right on this new information of their friend's location, but if Rinoa needed to rest it couldn't be helped. She just hoped no one else was going anywhere anytime soon, but she knew that didn't apply to Cloud. Now the only question was where to stay, figuring there had to be a hotel around this kingdom somewhere.

"Do you know of any inns in your kingdom, Princess?" Tifa asked.

"Oh no, I prefer it if you stay here in our rooms. It wouldn't be a hassle to us and we would gladly appreciate the company." Jasmine responded.

"Thank you, its greatly noted." Tifa said back with a smile.

While the three of them began to discuss room arrangements, Zell was lead to the room where Rinoa lied. He entered and saw her laying down in a soft bed and starring out the small window at the blue, cloudless sky. She had bandages all over her body, but it was not her wounds that upset him but her expression. She looked depressed and sad, as if she had lost everything. It looked as if she had lost her smile, as if it was carried away by the wind. He took a seat next to her, knowing the new information might brighten her up.

"Hey, doctor said you'll be ok." Zell said with a big grin.

Rinoa didn't say anything or turn her head, but kept starring at the sky as if she was watching for something. The grin quickly disappeared off of Zell's face and sighed as he looked at his own feet. Despite Rinoa's current mood he knew he had to be cheerful. If he looked upset too, then it wouldn't make it any easier for her.

"I have some good news, we know where Squall is. We know where everyone is?" Zell said, the big grin back on his face, "We'll find them Rinoa, I promise."

With those last words, a slight smile could be seen on Rinoa's face. Even though sadness had shown and even though she had went through so much pain, she hadn't given up hope just yet. Her friends were out there, and they were waiting for them to join the family once again.


	9. SubChapter 1

Hello to all the readers of my fanfic...I just wanted to say for the next few chapters there will be something different going on. Instead of focusing on Rinoa, Zell and Tifa the next chapters will be focused around two other Final Fantasy characters. These sub-chapters will take place the same time as Rinoa, Zell and Tifa's stay in Agrabah. This is something new and I thought I might give it a try and see what happens. Please R&R and let me know what you think...thanks!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A small red gummi ship carrying two people took off from Monstropolis. The two people aboard the ship were there looking for friends of theirs but with no luck. This had marked the thirteenth world they've visited and not a single clue as to where their friends were. Since their world was destroyed and the two of them had found each other, they both decided to find the rest of their group. One was a male, with long brown hair put into a pony tail and blue eyes wearing a black cowboy hat. He had his hat pulled down and his feet propped up asleep in a light nap. A shotgun leaned against the left side of his a chair, showing that he always kept it by his side. Next to him was a woman in pink with long blonde hair and blue eyes. With her hands firmly on the controls, she steered the ship in the direction of its next course.

The two had just come from Monstropolis, an odd city that was home to very odd people. In their short visit there they had made new friends, but also new enemies recalling a fight with a monster named Randall. Over the course of the worlds they visited, they had only run into bad luck. They sometimes were greeted badly and weren't welcomed, sometimes they made more enemies then friends and sometimes heartless popped up. However, they continued on in hopes of eventually finding their friends. Their next stop, which they were now approaching, was a world called Gaia. From what was known, this world had not been affected by the heartless yet. It made sense since this world was far off from all the others; in fact it had taken them several weeks to get here and travelling at the fastest speed.

"Irvine, we're here." Quistis said, turning to now awake man.

"Already, I was hoping to get in more beauty sleep." the man joked.

He sat up and yawned fixing his hat and looking out the window. There he saw what seemed to be the largest world they have encountered so far. It looked like a huge blue and green marble, much like his world although a bit bigger. The gummi ship slowly began its descent into the atmosphere as the tiny landscape under them grew bigger and bigger until they were finally able to make out the details such as trees and large hills. Quistis looked to her left and saw a large town built around a grey palace. Hoping to get information from there she set the gummi ship down a couple miles from the town and turned off the controls.

"It's raining and it looks cold outside, so you might want to put on something a bit warmer." she added.

"Heheh, you should worry about yourself more than me sweets." Irvine laughed.

Quistis shook her head from Irvine's reference to her as sweets and picked up a large brown coat wrapping it around her. Opening the hatch door she stepped out into the rain and into a flat, plain field with Irvine following behind. She looked up at the dark and gray storm clouds that rained down on them, then straight at the large town that was about a mile away. She and Irvine quickly began their walk over to the town; both knew that covering every inch of this world would take a long time. This world was big and probably home to billions and billions of people, but being a huge world also meant that there was a higher chance of finding their friends here as well. After a long walk that seemed to take forever, they approached the entrance to the town. Quistis looked over to a large plate on the entry gate and read "Burmecia" as she entered to find a completely empty town.

"This place looks deserted." she mumbled.

Irvine shrugged and continued on inward, looking around for any signs of life. No matter where they looked though, through the streets, in homes and shops and down alleyways there was no one around. The last place to look was a large castle at the top of the town itself, as they began their climb up a large flight of stairs. Finally making it to the top, they entered in the large wooden doors and into an empty room. Everything looked gray and dark, the walls rusted and the roof collapsing in. They looked around and spotted no one, assuming this town was an old and deserted place.

"Lets leave and see where the closet town or village is, maybe we'll get lucky and find a kingdom." Irvine said.

Quistis nodded in agreement and they both began their way out when they heard a voice call out to them. They stopped and turned around to see a female wearing all red and carrying a large lance in her hands. Her face was white and covered in fur with long white hair flowing down on both sides of her face. From what they could tell she wasn't human, but they weren't the least bit surprised considering the many people they have met already.

"Not many visitors come around here and if they do, they are just travelers seeking shelter for the night." she spoke, "Who may you be?"

"We may ask you the same thing, seems impolite to ask a stranger their name without giving out yours first." Irvine responded.

"I guess you're right, pardon my rudeness." she said, "I am Freya, Freya Crescent."

"Irvine Kinneas." Irvine said.

"I'm Quistis Trepe, we are travelers from a different world." she explained, "We've come here looking for our friends, perhaps you could tell us the nearest heavy populated kingdom."

"Outsiders from another world, doesn't surprise me since the whole incident with Kuja and Garland several years ago." Freya muttered, "I can't say that I have met anyone from another world so far, but that doesn't mean those you are searching for are not here. If they would be anywhere, they would be in Alexandria. It is a huge kingdom that lies east of here, though it will take you several weeks by foot to get there."

"Oh we have a gummi ship, so it should only take us a few days." Quistis said, "Thank you for your help."

"Hey, why is this place so gloomy?" Irvine asked, looking around at the dark and wet palace.

Freya turned her attention to the male who asked her an uncommon question. Her thoughts trailed back to the day when she was still with Zidane's group fighting off Kuja to protect the world. She remembered the many friends that had passed and then her memories returned her to both Burmecia and Cleyra and their destruction. Much of her race was gone now and the very few that had survived those attacks many years ago were scattered about the world. She then paid her attention back to the stranger and his question, as the question now didn't seem so weird to her.

"Burmecia was attacked a long time ago and its citizens fled, since then the rain has not stopped, even for a second and this once great town has fallen and now is forgotten. However, this use to be my home so I come by here every once and awhile." Freya answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Quistis responded, "War can be an ugly thing."

"Yes it can." Freya said.

Freya's eyes then shifted to a shadow in the corner. It was still but she saw it move for a second, probably a person concealing their identity with some kind of magic. Perhaps these so called travelers were actually thieves and were hoping to distract her while another knocked her out. Yet these two travelers seemed to be normal outsiders and nothing seemed suspicious, but she kept an eye on the shadow as she marched down the stairs.

"It should still take about a day if you go buy airship." Freya said, approaching Quistis and Irvine, "The people there are very kind and helpful, if you need anything they would be willing to help."

Quistis went to respond when she noticed a white figure suddenly jump from the baloney and towards them. Without hesitation, Freya turned around and with her lance sliced the creature in two. The creature disappeared into the air as soon as it was hit, as Freya lowered her lance and pointed it at the Quistis and Irvine.

"You try to trick me, tell me who you really are?" she asked, anger in her voice, "Are you really who you are as you say, or are you petty thieves looking for a fight."

"We're not thieves and we're not trying to attack you, we don't know what that was but it wasn't with us." Quistis quickly responded, "We don't want any hostility, we're just looking for our friends like we said."

Freya stared at the girl's face for a moment before lowering her lance. From the look on her face, she could tell that the woman was telling the truth. That creature though surprised her since she had never seen anything like it before. Hopefully, these travelers didn't bring any unwanted guests with them without their noticing. She went to apologize, but was quickly greeted by the same white creature. This time several of them had formed in back of her and started to shake around as they neared closer to the three of them. Freya backed off quickly, her lance pointed directly at them if they dare attack her with warning. Irvine quickly loaded his gun and pointed it at the now groups of white creatures the shook back and forth in front of them, as Quistis analyzed them trying to determine if they were heartless.

"Well?" Irvine asked, slowly starting to back up.

"They're definitely not heatless, but they are real similar?" Quistis answered.

"These things are not from my world, what are they?" Freya asked, backing up along with them.

"If you've never seen this creature before, then they must be heartless or connected to them." Quistis said, "Either way we should leave, it'll be too dangerous if we stay. You are more than welcome to come along, if these things are what I think they are you'll have a difficult time fighting them off by yourself."

"Very well." Freya answered, as she followed the two quickly out of the castle.

The three ran out and down the stairs, the white figures multiplying and giving chase after them. Irvine looked back and took several shots hitting an enemy with each shot, and continued on after Quistis and Freya down the streets. They finally came to the exit and quickly hurried out of Burmecia, as the enemy's number growing larger and larger by the second. Quistis spotted the ship appearing closer and closer as they neared it. Unfortunately, the enemy was also gaining closer and closer on them and Irvine's shots were enough to hold them back. Making it to the ship, they climbed aboard and Quistis started up the controls as Irvine continued to fend off the unknown creatures. The ship lifted off the ground not a minute to soon and took off before the creatures below had a chance to overrun the ship. Sitting back, Irvine took in a deep breath as he closed the hatch door.

"What were those things?" Irvine muttered, out of breath.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling they're connected to heartless somehow." Quistis answered, steering the ship in the direction Freya had stated.

"What are these heartless you keep mentioning?" Freya asked, taking a seat and trying to catch her breath.

"They are creatures that appear in all worlds and steal the hearts of people. Like their name suggests, they have no heart and that's why they target others. They are creatures that live in the darkness and are the darkness, it's what the dark part of everyone looks like if it were to take form. Several years ago, the heartless invaded our world and consumed it into darkness killing and destroying everyone and everything. We managed to escape and we're hoping that our friends had gotten away too. That's why we are here, to find our friends as I said earlier." Quistis explained, "Now they weren't heartless, but they were very similar in appearance which has me worried."

"What does this mean for my world, are you telling me this creatures will overrun my world too." Freya asked.

"I still can't say anything because I don't know what they were. So far your world has been unaffected by the heartless, but they have ways of getting to every world." Quistis said, "If they are related to heartless, then we have a major problem."

"Great" Irvine mumbled.

The ship continued on its course to Alexandria, as the creatures known as nobodies watched from below before slowly disappearing. Irvine and Quistis had come here looking for their friends, but instead they would get something much worse.


	10. SubChapter 2

Hello to all my readers...I just wanted to say I apologize as this chapter is sort of long and draggy...or may appear that way at least...I promise some action will come soon!!! Enjoy!!!

Katana777- Thank you for your review and comment on Genie, I kinda found him easy to portray since he has a wacky and funny attitude towards things. I will also check out the website you mentioned, thanks for the suggestion(it's greatly appreciated).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A day had passed since Quisits and Irvine had arrived at Gaia, one of the many few worlds unaffected by the heartless. It was a day since they had met a new ally, who had helped them in escaping the unknown creatures who had attacked them. During that time, Quitis and Irvine had gotten to know Freya very well and were glad to hear about her world. In return they passed down information of the many worlds they have visited, their own world and the heartless they've encountered. This all intrigued Freya, as she never knew so much life existed out of her own. Of course, all this exciting news had to carry something bad along with it, and finding out about the heartless was the worst of it all.

"How do you defend against darkness itself?" Freya asked, in a discussion with Quistis.

"Good question, usually we just hit with everything we got and it usually does the trick. That is until more come and then we're just screwed after that." Quistis responded in a sarcastic manner, "However, I have been trying to find a way to permanently defeat the heartless, but I haven't found one yet. To make matters worse, heartless come in many different forms making it harder to kill them."

Freya nodded with every word spoken, gaining a more deeper knowledge on the heartless. She remembered when they fought against Kuja, how things were back then. Times were tough and it seemed as every great kingdom and nation was failing. The world began to rot back then, and now it seemed like there was a chance that something worse could happen to this peaceful world. Freya knew the effects of losing something most important to you more than anyone. If it came down to fighting the heartless to protect this world, she would give her life in battle. She would not let her world fall into enemy hands again, no matter what the sacrifice.

"So is that Alexandria?" Irvine asked, looking out the window.

Freya got up and walked over beside him looking out too. From outside the window a large kingdom could be seen, with thousands of houses and shops all centered around a large castle. Freya knew this town all to well and she knew that castle all to well. It had been three years since she had been her last and spoken with either Garnet or Zidane. She knew that Steiner and Beatrix still served here and Eiko lived along with Zidane and Garnet. She hadn't heard anything from Amarant and Quina, but she personally couldn't careless about those two. Vivi had disappeared about a year ago, still unaware if Zidane and Garnet were continuing their search for him. To be honest though, she was glad to be back since Alexandria always felt like a second home to her. She couldn't wait to see Garnet or Ekio again, as well as Zidane. They had a lot to catch up on over the past years.

"That's Alexandria, hasn't changed much since I've been here last." she answered, "There is a docking port to the left for airships, you can dock the ship there at no fee. Once we land, I have friends that might be able to aid you in finding your friends."

Quistis smiled slightly and continued on to the dock Freya had pointed out. Slowly she docked the ship along the port corner and turned off all controls, preparing to enter yet another new world unlike her own. The hatch door opened and the three stepped out greeted by several flight attendants and engineers at the dock. Freya nodded to them recognizing a few of them as she began to lead Quistis and Irvine to the castle entrance. Both Quistis and Irvine took in their surroundings and admired the beauty of the tall stone buildings and the flying airships zooming by in the sky above them. The architecture was completely different here, but amazingly beautiful. Inside the castle was just as beautiful, with large fountains on either side of the walkway and paintings and red curtains hung up on the walls. Above them was a mural of mixed colors displaying two angels playing the harp. Guards also stood on either side of every entrance, seeing that was castle was well protected. That fact that they let Freya and them pass without a word meant Freya must have been a good friend to whomever ruled over Alexandria.

"Freya!" came shout from in front of them.

A preteen girl wearing a combination of yellow, orange and a pink suit came running up to them. She had short blue hair which had a bow tied on it and a small black horn stuck out from the middle of her head. As soon as she approached Freya, she smiled up at her with the biggest smile anyone could put on. Freya smiled back recognizing the girl as Eiko, and was amazed at how she had grown since she last saw her.

"Good to see you again Eiko, you've grown quite a lot." Freya said with a smile.

"You bet, I'm eleven years old now and guess what..." Eiko said, building up the excitement, "I'm apart of Beatrix's elite solider squad and counselor to Dagger and Zidane."

"That's wonderful to hear." Freya responded, seeing that Eiko hadn't changed personality wise, "Eiko, I have some people here that would like to talk with Garnet and Zidane. Are those two in or busy at all?"

"Last time I checked, Dagger was going over some important paper work and Zidane was sleeping as usual. They'll probably stop what they're doing to see you though, its been so long since you've been here." Eiko replied, "I'll lead you two them, follow me!"

Eiko turned and took of at a high speed, as Freya, Quistis and Irvine chased after her. After catching up to her, they came to an elevator where they all got on and rode to the top floor. The ride was short while Eiko shook her hips back and forth to the music playing and took off again as soon as the elevator doors opened. Freya couldn't understand how such a person could have so much energy, then again she was getting old so maybe it was just her age. After all, she felt like she was getting wrinkles already at the age of 27. The four of them finally came to large hall that led to a throne. On the throne seat sat a girl in blue dress, with short black hair and dark eyes . On both sides of her stood a man clad in all armor and an older woman dressed in brown and with a sword hilt attached to her hip. The girl in blue was filling out paper work but stopped as soon as she saw Eiko come running in. She smiled and then looked to see three others following her, surprised that one of them was Freya.

"Dagger, Freya came to visit." Eiko shouted jumping in the air with joy.

"Freya, its good to see you after such a long time." Garnet said, getting up to greet her old friend.

"Queen Garnet, it is good to see you as well." Freya responded, bowing as Quistis and Irvine did the same.

"Now I told you before to stop with all the formalities, we're friends after all." Garnet said with a laugh, "Steiner will you go wake Zidane and tell him of Freya's return."

Looking quite unhappy of his new task, he frowned and nodded to Garnet before flashing a smile Freya's way and walking off to Zidane's room. Freya smiled back watching the man she had gotten to know walk off, then turning attention to Garnet. It had only been three years, but Garnet had grown into a fine, respectable woman. It was greatly noted that she ran her kingdom well, as well as all of Gaia, since Alexandria was Gaia's capital. The people were happy and there hadn't been any conflicts since the fight with Kuja. Garnet was certainly fit for leadership, though she could not say the same for Zidane.

"Garnet, I will get directly to the point of why I am here. These travelers behind me are from another world and have come here seeking their friends." Freya explained, pointing over to both Quistis and Irvine, "However, they also tell of an evil far greater then we have faced. It is possible that this evil has invaded or will invade our world. I figure if we help them, then we may be able to stop this new threat from destroying our world. I trust these traveler's and their words, as we were both attacked a day ago by a unknown enemy."

"I see, well I have to say I have never met anyone from another world before. However, everyone is welcomed in my kingdom and those seeking aid will be helped. I will be glad to help you in your search for your friends." Garnet said, "Though I am interested in this evil you talk about, if it is that serious then we must act on it right away. If you two could provide us with information, it would be appreciated."

"WOW!" Eiko shouted, "You two are aliens, though you look to normal. I would have figured you be giant, green, slimy, one-eyed creatures with tentacles and long tongues."

"Ten...tacles?" Irvine mumbled, confused and wide-eyed by the girl's comment.

"Yes of course, we'd be happy to help you any way. Thank you for your help as well." Quistis replied, smiling, "I forgot to introduce myself though, I am Quistis Trepe and this is my friend Irvine Kinnaes."

"Oh excuse me, I'm Queen Garnet of Alexandria but you can call me Garnet if you like. This is my assistant and head knight, Beatrix and you've already met my esteemed counselor, Eiko." Garnet joked with a laugh, "The man from before is Steiner, he is the leader of the Pluto Knights in Alexandria and is fourth in command."

Quistis nodded and smiled again, as she then spotted Steiner approach with a younger man following behind. The man looked tired and yawned loudly as he dragged his feet across the floor, his arms swaying from side to side. His short brown hair was sticking out in all places, as if it had a fight with the pillow he was sleeping on, and he wore white and pink-dotted pajamas. He looked up at them and perked up into full awareness as soon as he say Freya. Quickly, he ran over to her and before she had a chance to get away, placed her in a giant bear hug.

"Freya, it's so good to see you again." Zidane said, releasing her from his grip.

"Hello Zidane, as usual you haven't changed." Freya muttered.


	11. SubChapter 3

It was late, and yet they had accomplished so much in one day already. While Eiko slept, the rest of the group along with Quistis and Irvine sat in a dimly lit room discussing the current matter. The moonlight shone through the window lighting up the dark room along with the warm fireplace, as the group was gathered around in a circle sipping at their tea. Garnet was told of their situation and of the heartless that destroyed their world. She could only feel sympathy for the two, having lost something so great and important to them. Though she was also worried for Gaia as well, imagining what would happen if these heartless ever showed their faces.

"All we can do is hope they don't ever come here." Garnet said in a low tone.

"If they do, we will defend this world with our lives." Steiner spoke up, "Just like we did with Kuja"

"Kuja wasn't the darkness, but just followed it." Freya muttered, "Kuja is no where compared to the power of these heartless, the power of darkness itself. Kuja is but a mock to the darkness, what we're dealing with is hell itself. Though I do agree, I will gladly give my life for this world."

"Lets not rush to any conclusions yet, we have only heard about them from these two. We still have not encountered them in battle, nor do we know if they will even appear." Garnet said, "However, these monsters that attacked you in Burmecia worries me. You said they bare a strong resemblance to heartless, right?

"That's correct, though they weren't heartless." Quistis responded.

Garnet sighed, feeling this was all too much to take in all at once. Just when things were going alright, just when the world was living in peace, this happens. She felt as if things could never stay peaceful, for there always had to be a conflict to avoid. There aways had to be evil lurking somewhere, darkness creeping out of every corner. Not to mention, Vivi was still missing after a two year search and nothing had turned up yet. She began to wonder if Vivi's disappearance had to do with the heartless, remembering he claimed he saw dark figures following him. Whatever the case was, it was leading them all down a dark and dreary path.

"Alright, here is what we will do." Garnet said, "Zidane, Steiner and Freya, you will go out and help search for Quistis and Irvine's friends. Meanwhile, Quistis, Beatrix, Eiko and myself will sort this mess out and prepare for the worst if the heartless are to ever appear. It is better that we have a plan ready, just in case. Is that ok with you two?"

"Of course, thank you." Quistis answered.

"Though where are we to start looking, my Queen?" Steiner asked, "Our world is huge, they could be anywhere."

"Vivi, right?" Zidane spoke up, "You think this has to do with his disappearanc, since he kept ranting on about shadows following him. You think it has to do with these heartless?"

Garnet nodded and Zidane sighed in response. That meant that they were going to start looking where Vivi was last sighted, Madain Sari. For whatever reason, Vivi had gone there last and disappeared from that very place. They still couldn't figure out why he would go to Madain Sari, maybe thinking it had to do with the summoners or Eidolons. However, for the past two years since he went missing, they came up short on every single clue they received. Maybe with this new information, they could finally find out what happened to Vivi.

"Off to Madain Sari again." Zidane mumbled, as he got up and began out off the room, "I guess we'll head out tomorrow, got no time to waste after all. I'm gonna hit the snoozer, night everyone."

"We might as well call it a night too, Steiner would you please lead Quistis and Irvine to their rooms. Afterward, you are dismissed from duty." Garnet said, turning her attention back to her new found friends, "Even through the troubling news, I am glad to have met some new friends. We have a busy day tomorrow, so we might as well get some rest. Good night everyone."

Everyone said their good nights and went off to bed, as Steiner led Quistis and Irvine to their rooms. He showed them to the door, both Irvine and Quistis rooms turning out to be opposite of each other in the hall. Bidding them peaceful dreams, he walked off to his room and to good nights rest. Quistis sighed and turned her back to the wall, watching Irvine do the same. Already they had gone through so much and had only been in this world for two days. Granted, meeting Freya, Garnet and the rest of them was a great thing.The chance of having help for once instead of being chased off a world so quickly was welcoming. This chance might even lead them to their friends, lead them to Squall, Selphie, Rinoa and Zell. Quistis couldn't help but think about them a lot, remembering the good times each of them shared. There was just a lingering fear, a fear that they might not be alive. A fear that the heartless had gotten to them and had stolen their hearts.

"They're still alive, none of them would go down that easily." Irvine said, reassuring her.

"Right, of course." she replied with a smile, "Good night Irvine."

"Night" Irvine responded.

Quistis turned, walked into the room and closed the door behind her hoping to get a good nights sleep. Irvine sighed and walked in his room closing the door behind him. He wanted to believe in what he told Quistis, but the truth was he had some doubt as well. Truth be told, he missed his friends, especially Selphie. He just hoped she was ok, wherever she was.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Far off from Alexandria, in a valley near the South Gate a black portal opened. Two hooded men stepped out of it, the portal closing behind them. The one lifted his hood back, to reveal a black haired man with an patch over his right eye. He had a huge grin on his face as he surveyed the area, the other man beside him remaining hidden.

"Xigbar, we have no time to waste in this filth of a world." the hooded man spoke, "Our targets are Quistis Trepe and Irvine Kinneas, our destination is Alexandria. We are to eliminate them, but no one else associated with this world unless necessary."

"Those were the orders given out, huh?" Xigbar said, a smirk on his face, "Isn't this the world Saix was investigating before, because of those summon things? I remember him saying that someone from this world got in his way and that he had to take care of that problem. Whatever it was, lets just get this show on the road, I'm wanting to put some holes in some people. Hope these people are worth the challenge."

"Hope they are worth the misery, lets go." Xaldin muttered.

The two walked off in Alexandria's direction disappearing into the distance. Behind a rock, Amarant had watched them, overhearing their conversation. Normally, he couldn't give two shits about two strangers, but they were headed off to Alexandria. This might cause some trouble for Garnet and Eiko, not giving a damn about Zidane. Standing up, he knew he had to hurry off to Alexandria and reach Garnet before they got their themselves. Who were these people though, and where the hell did they come from?


	12. SubChapter 4

"Morning sunshine."

Quistis opened her eyes to see Irvine standing over her, a smile on his face. She quickly got up pulling the covers over her and sliding away from him on the bed. Little pervert snuck into her room without her noticing, and she didn't have any cloths on under the sheets surrounding her body. He laughed standing there with his arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

"You little..." she stopped, figuring it was useless to argue, "Next time knock before you enter. Leave so I can get dressed."

"Oh I don't mind, you can dress." Irvine said, with a smile.

"Irvine!" Quistis shouted

"Fine, fine! We're meeting in the same room as last night, so hurry up." he said, walking out of the room, "Oh, and I could see through the covers."

Quistis' eyes widen as she pounded her fist into the bed. She just couldn't understand how Selphie dealt with him, with his smartass comments and pervertedness. As soon as the door shut, she got up and got dressed. After she was done, she ran to the room to meet with everyone else. When she entered, she saw everyone around the same circle of chairs. Garnet saw her come in a flashed a smile towards her about to say something when Quistis sucker punched Irvine in the face, knocking him to the floor. Quistis then took his seat and smiled back at Garnet.

"Don't mind him, he'll be ok." she said, "She'll we get started."

"Uh, Sure." Garnet responded, her eyes on the dazed Irvine lying on the floor.

"Getting to the point, we're gonna head out as soon as possible. To make a brief explanation short, our friend Vivi disappeared about three years ago. He said he saw shadows matching the description of the heartless you told us about. He was last seen at Madain Sari where we hope to find some connection or clue about the heartless, Vivi and possibly your friends." Zidane said.

"Understood." she replied, "Good luck."

Zidane nodded and started out of the room, Freya and Steiner following behind. Irvine finally came to his senses and got up rubbing his sore face. He looked at Quistis and stuck his tongue out at her before hurrying off after everyone else. Quistis sighed, not knowing what to do with that boy. She focused her attention on the matter at hand, coming up with a plan just in case the heartless were to show their faces. The only ones left in the room were Garnet, Eiko, Beatrix and herself. Something told her this was going to be a long day, with Irvine getting the better part of it. While the rest of the group began their discussion, Zidane led the group down to the hanger. There stood the biggest and most fastest ship ever built, the Hilda Grande X.

"That's one big ship!" Irvine remarked.

"Yep, this is the most powerful and fastest ship on Gaia. The Hilda Grande X, built by Regent Cid of Lindblum and Zebolt, is the best steam-powered ship of today. It runs at a speed of eight hundred miles per hour; you could circle the whole entire world twice in one day with this baby. The engines are of a 32SP, or 32 steam pressure meaning she can run for 55 hours straight without needing refuel. There are more schematics, but I'd be here all day explaining it so I'll just skip the rest." Zidane explained, "All you need to know is that she is one hell of a ship."

"She looks like one hell of a ship." Irvine responded.

Zidane smiled turning to the ship and climbing on board with the others. The engineers and workers ran around getting ready for the ship to take launch, as everyone took their positions on the bridge of the ship. As soon as clearance was granted, the restraints holding the ship down were released and the ship began to float upwards into the sky. As soon as the Hilda Grande exited the harbor, it slowly made its decent over Alexandria headed for Madain Sari. As soon as they were clear of Alexandria, the steam engines were started up and at an incredible speed, took off for the Outer Continent.

"Madain Sari is located on the Outer Continent, on the far North-western side of continent. " Zidane explained, as Irvine listened, "Originally, it was home to now extinct race called the Summoners. Though both Dagger and Eiko are Summoners, they are the last of their race."

"So why do you think there might be some clue or connection here?" Irvine asked.

"As Zidane said earlier, a friend of ours named Vivi disappeared from Madain Sari. For some reason he claimed to have seen shadows and said they were following him. However, none of us ever witnessed any of these shadows." Freya said, "Vivi apparently followed the shadows to Madain Sari, and that was the last we had heard from him. There is a possibility that these shadows are heartless, and we'll just see what leads on from there."

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend." Irvine commented, "I feel your pain, someone dear to me out of all my friends is missing too. Her name is Selphie, quite a cute little gal."

"Girlfriend?" Zidane asked.

"She's my gal if that's what you mean, and I wouldn't trade the world for her. I miss her more then anything right now, would give anything to see her again." Irvine said with a smile, "She disappeared right before my world was destroyed by the darkness. Bad timing too, I wanted to pop the question to her seeing as how we're adults now."

"Yeah, I know how that is." Zidane said with a laugh, "You've got my regards when you two meet up again."

"Thanks!" Irvine replied.

The Hilda Grande continued on it's course over the ocean and towards Madain Sari, where they hoped to find some clues to what was going on. Meanwhile, two figures appeared out of dark portal near the North Gate. The two men, the same ones as before, stopped and glanced around the area. The cloaked man pulled out a device and looked at it, a red dot blinking and moving upward across the screen. He sighed and looked over to Xigbar, who had a huge grin in his face as if he couldn't wait for the fight to begin.

"They have split up, take this and follow Irvine Kinneas north to their destination. Once you make contact, kill him and then get out of there as soon as possible. If anyone gets in the way, you are allowed to kill them as well." the hooded man, known as Xaldin, spoke, "I will continue on to Alexandria and meet up with Quistis Trepe. Once I have killed her, I will return to our world so finish quickly."

"What, no time to play?" Xigbar laughed, raising his arms and shrugging, "I guess that's the way its got to be then, just don't get yourself killed."

Xigbar laughed and walked away from Xaldin with the tracker in his hand, disappearing into the dark portal once again. Xaldin sighed once more, wondering why he got stuck with such an ingrate like Xigbar. He should have been the one to hunt down Rinoa, not killing off her precious little friends who were more than weaklings to him. He did however look forward to paying this Beast person a visit when he was done here, a mission that was already assigned to him since day one. Right now, he had to focus on getting rid Quistis Trepe. He too continued on to Alexandria, with Quistis unaware of what danger lurked after her.


	13. SubChapter 5

Madain Sari could be seen in the distance, as the Hilda Grande X neared it's destination. The airship moved quickly over the vast green forests below, leaving a small trail of steam behind it that dissolved into the air within seconds. Aboard were four passengers all on the same path, to find their friends and a way to stop the heartless. They were unaware though of a mysterious man tracking them, following them directly to Madain Sari. His mission was simply to eliminate Irvine Kinneas, so he wasn't a bother if ever to come in contact again with Rinoa. Destiny might have held a cruel fate for Irvine, but only time would tell. The ship finally made it over the plain cliffs of Madain Sari and set down gently on a plain surface not to far from the Wall of Eidolons. The four of them stepped out onto the plain rocky surface and surveyed the area, to see nothing but dust and rock out in the distance. Irvine stepped over to where the edge of the cliff was and looked down. It was a long fall from where he stood, close to a fifty feet fall. Anyone knocked down that wouldn't have a chance of surviving.

"So this Madain Sari, kinda boring." he said, walking back to the others.

"Wait until you see the Wall of Eidolons, thats a real treat to behold." Zidane said.

"Sounds like an art exhibit, can't wait." Irvine responded with a smile.

Zidane led the group down the steep rocky surface, until they eventually reached ground point. In the distance a large stone building sat, with a unique design unlike anything Irvine had ever seen. As they approached it, the stone structure almost looked like a small mountain with a dirt pathway leading to an entrance. Irvine didn't hesitate to go in as he ran past the entrance only to see a colorful display of art. All along the walls were drawings of creatures, beautiful drawings and any like he had ever seen. He spotted a drawing of a large black dragon and looked at it before realizing who it was.

"This creature, this is Bahamut." Irvine said, pointing to the dragon.

"You have Eidolons on your planet?" Zidane asked, surprised that Irvine recognized the drawing.

"Well yeah, I guess so." he replied, "Though we call them GFs or Guardian Forces. Bahamut is one of the Guardian Forces that can be summoned. Now I can't summon him, but I know Quistis can."

"Guardian Forces and Eidolons, they are the same summons. We just both have different names for them, and different people who can use them on our own worlds." Freya added, "Interesting"

"So these Eiodolons, what are they exactly?" Irvine asked.

"Summons, creatures that can be called forth by a race called the summoners. As you heard previously, summoners have been wiped out on our planet save two people. Those last remaining summoners are Alexandria's Queen Garnet and Eiko Carol. Besides those two, no one else is able to summon on our planet." Freya explained, "The drawing on the walls, like Bahamut there are different summons each with their unique ability and trait. Some are ordinary summons and some are powerful, like Alexander."

Alexander, yet another name Irvine recognized among the many creatures that could be summoned on this planet. He looked back at the drawings and realized that a few more were ones from his planet as well, like Odin, Shiva and Ifrit. It was all very interesting to see how worlds so far apart and different can be so close by sharing just one thing. If only Selphie could see this, she'd probably give him that look, the look where her eyes would glisten and her smile lights up the room. When he found her, he made note that he would take her here and show her everything that he had seen. He'd be glad to see that heart warming smile once again.

"Well, where do we start?" he asked, turning to Zidane.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xaldin approached the entrance to Alexandria and walked in looking around at the large kingdom before him. The streets were busy with people rushing back and forth doing different things and children off to the side playing jump rope, hoop scotch or ball. The kingdom was so huge, he wasn't sure where to start looking for Quistis Trepe. Orders were to only kill Gaia's citizens if necessary, but seeing as how it might take forever to find here, he decided on the easier path. He would just make her show herself by killing as many people as possible, to him these people's lives weren't even worth the misery. Walking up to the center near the fountain, several spears began to appear around him and with a flick of his wrist they flew around striking anyone in their path.

People began to fall dead and suddenly a panic erupted as people dropped what they were doing and ran for their lives. The guards at the entrance saw Xaldin and grabbed their swords as they rushed towards him. However their effort proved to be useless, as Xaldin quickly struck them down with his spears in a matter of seconds. He then turned and noticed a large castle in the distance, probably built in the center of town. His best bet in finding Quistis was probably in there, as he began to his way to the castle continuing his onslaught.

Meanwhile, Garnet, Quistis, Beatrix and Eiko all sat in the study room throwing ideas back and forth. A solid plan had not been decided yet about what to do if the heartless came. Garnet was about to speak again when a soldier came rushing in though the doors. She was out of breath, but wasted no time in getting out what she needed to say.

"Queen Garnet, Sir Beatrix, an unknown enemy has entered town and started to slaughter our citizens and knights. He has already killed many of our men and women, and even the children. We've been told he is headed for the castle, but we are unclear of what his motive is." the female knight reported, "Please Queen, we must get you out of here right..."

The knight stopped as a solid, silver spear was driven through her body. She fell to the ground dead, as the spear left her body and retreated to its owner who stood at the doorway. Beatrix quickly rushed in front of Garnet and pulled out her sword ready to defend her at any cost. Eiko rushed to Garnet's side and the two looked on in horror at the dead knight in front of them. Xaldin looked down at the dead knight and stepped over her entering the room. His eyes searched the girls, identifying the one in pink as Quistis Trepe. There was no longer a need to kill anyone else, as it was getting troublesome to fend off some many guards and knights.

"Quitis Trepe, I'm sorry to say but today is the day you die!" Xaldin said with a devilish smirk on his face.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Teams organized by Zidane were spread out everywhere along Madain Sari, Everyone was hoping to find some clue, some trace of heartless, Vivi or Irvine's friends. Nothing was turning up and they had been searching for well over an hour. Suddenly screams could be heard in the distance, as both Zidane and Irvine along with their group rushed to see what caused them. When they got there they saw a whole team all along the floor unconscious and injured by what seemed to be bullet wounds. Both looked up at the man in a black cloak who stood next to them holding two unique looking weapons. He grinned and looked over at Irvine pointing his gun towards him.

"You must be Irvine, huh? Let's get the show started then." Xigbar laughed, "It ends here!"


	14. SubChapter 6

"It ends here!"

What were those words suppose to mean, who was this guy? Irvine stared directly at the man holding the oddly shaped gun pointed at him. It was obvious this man didn't come here to play around, he wanted Irvine dead or so it seemed. Why though, why was this man after him? Only more questions that needed answering and Irvine just didn't feel like taking the time to figure them all out at once.

"Is that so?" Irvine said, in a carefree gesture, "That's too bad cause I didn't plan on dying just yet. Too many things I have to do, like kicking your ass."

"Oh, so you are a smart mouth bastard." Xigbar responded, "Great I've finely met someone of my stature, perhaps you can give me your heart once I take your life."

"I'm sorry to say I don't have a heart, a beautiful girl came along one day and stole it from me." he said, "If you want my heart, then you'll have to find her, but I don't intend on letting you if that's what you're after." Irvine replied

"As if I really needed it to begin with. All I want is to take your life, that's what I was ordered to do so you don't interfere." Xigbar said. 

"Interfere, inferere in what?" Irvine asked.

"Ha, wouldn't you like to know." Xigbar laughed.

Xigbar then raised his arms in the air crossing his to guns to form an X-shape. On the high cliffs on both sides of them, odd white and purple creatures appeared wielding crossbows. Zidane and Irvine both looked up at the odd creatures that stared back at them. Irvine examined them closely, but figured they weren't heartless. However, the fact that they weren't heartless was actually bad. That meant they were now dealing with another unknown enemy, at least with the heartless Irvine knew how to fight them. Suddenly, one of the creatures shot its crossbow at Irvine but it was blocked as Steiner stepped in it's path and deflected it with his sword. Irvine made note to thank the man later, also noticing Freya approaching them as well.

"They're called nobodies, sniper nobodies to be exact." Xigabr said, "They should take care of your little friends while I'm dealing with you."

Xigbar suddenly launched towards Irvine kicking him back and throwing him several feet away from everyone else. The sniper nobodies then began to launch their assault on the team, trying to divert their attention away from Xigbar and Irvine. The situation had just turned critical, luckily Zidane knew something like this might of happened and prepared for it just in case. He pulled out his two silver daggers and turned to everyone else.

"Freya, Steiner, deal with our friends up on the cliffs and get rid of them. Everyone else, take those injured and head back to the Hilda Grande, don't let anyone on board no matter what." Zidane said, "I'll help Irvine fend off this old man."

The group nodded and all the crew members from the search party headed back to the ship. Both Freya and Steiner choose a cliff and began their decent up to take care of the nobodies, while Zidane chased after Xigbar and Irvine. Freya wasted no effort in climbing the large cliff, as she jumped in the air and brought her lance down on the sniper nobody closest to her. The nobody disappeared within seconds as more started to form around her. The sniper nobodies raised their crossbows and one by one laser arrows came flying towards. With each twist of her hand, the lance deflected each arrow and sent back at the nobodies. One by one the sniper nobodies began to fall as Freya proved to be wasting no effort. Steiner on the other hand was having trouble even getting up the cliff. Slowly he climbed it nearly stumbling and falling to his death with each slip of his foot, and all the while dodging the laser arrows being shot down at him.

"Damn monsters, in the name of my Queen I shall rid you of this..." Steiner yelled, losing his footing and nearly falling yet again.

While Freya and Steiner were busy with the sniper nobodies, Irvine and Zidane were having trouble of their own. This guy was completely unpredictable, changing his movements, speed and attacks every minute. This guy relied more on his instincts then anything else and if those two weren't careful, things could turn out real bad for them. Xigbar switched from pace to pace as he fired off his blue laser arrows trying to hit his target as much as possible. Irvine dodged them as much as he could and returned fire with his shotgun, but the two were getting nowhere. If Zidane could only get in an attack, but he was two busy deflecting the arrows coming his way. Besides Zidane only had close combat weapons and seeing as how this man had two guns, in wouldn't be easy to get near him.

That fact didn't stop Zidane from trying though, seeing an opening and rushing Xigbar from the side. However, Xigbar spotted his attack and dodged it attacking Zidane in the shoulder instead. Zidane jumped back and gripped his left shoulder, the wound open and bleeding. That was a careless move and he should have known that it wasn't going to work. This guy was tough, unlike any other foe he had faced. He was proving to be on the same level as Kuja, but it was too early in the fight to boost him up that far.

"Why are you here, your obviously not after my charming good looks?" Irvine asked, his shotgun pointed directly at Xigbar.

"Charming, as if." Xigbar responded with a laugh, "I told you why I'm here, to take your life and that is all. You must be one hell of an idiot not to understand what I'm saying, or maybe it's the overwhelming threat that I'm posing on you."

"It's your looks that are overwhelming." Irvine replied, "Besides your the dumbass for not figuring out what I really meant. You said you were sent here on orders, orders by whom and to stop me interfering in what."

"Ha, it's really killing you to know isn't it? Ok I'll tell you, I was ordered to kill you so you don't interfere with our plans concerning Rinoa Heartilly." Xigbar said, "By whom, Organization XIII of which I am a member of"

"Rinoa!" Irivine said in shock, "You know where she is, you know were my friends are?"

"Of course, all of your friends." Xigbar said, "But I'm not telling you, cause you're just gonna die anyways."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean die, who are you?" Quistis shouted out, enraged at Xaldin.

"Xaldin, if you really wish to know your killer's name. " Xaldin said with a smirk on his face, "Die, its exactly what it sounds. You're going to die right now, and I'm going to be the one to kill you."

Quistis' eyes widen in shock and at the sight of this unknown man who was after her life. This guy, Xaldin, was no pushover. He managed to make it in the castle and kill many guards, and without the slightest scratch on him. This man was some sort of monster, everything about him made him appear that way. If he wanted to kill her though, she wouldn't let go with giving it her all. Reaching around to the back of her waist, she lifted her shirt slightly and pulled out two whips from under it. She then unwrapped them and slashed the ends into the ground making the floor indent where it was hit.

"Eiko, please take the Queen and get out of here! I will handle the situation here as quickly as possible." Beatrix said, sword still in hand, "Miss. Trepe, please go with them."

"No, it's me he is after not them. If I go with them, then they will not be able to get away without getting hurt. All these people he has killed is because of me, let me repay the favor to him." Quistis responded.

"Very well, Eiko get her out of here." Beatrix said.

"But..." Garnet stopped, as Eiko pushed her along.

As much as both Garnet and Eiko wanted to fight, the situation proved useless for them at the moment. For Eiko, she wanted to beat the crap out of this side-burn freak for causing so much harm to their people. She knew though that if she didn't get Garnet out of there things might get messy and Beatrix would raise hell about it. Garnet was enraged more then anyone, this man had killed her people. He had not just killed the many knights sworn to give their lives for this kingdom, but the innocent civilians that just happened to have got in his path. This man was a mere monster, anyone who would do what he did didn't deserve to live. She wanted to get revenge, but in all her protests it seemed Beatrix and Eiko wouldn't let her.

As Eiko dragged her out of the room, both her and Xaldin's eyes met. Xaldin could see the deep hatred she had for him, and that caused him to smile slightly. Though he had found his target and there was no longer a need to kill anyone else, besides those that got in his way. He let Eiko and Garnet pass him and leave the room, leaving less work for him to do. He still had this other woman and judging by her attitude and look, she wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"I have no intention of killing you, so you might as well leave too." he said to her.

"You say that after killing my people and my knights, you expect me to leave and just let you go freely?" Beatrix yelled at him, "I am head knight under Queen Garnet's rule and it is my responsibility to take down any threat in Alexandria."

Xaldin sighed and shook his head, yet another corpse that stood in his way. This would end quickly though, as he had matters to attend to elsewhere. The two spears that revolved around him stopped on either side and pointed to both girls. The spears then flew at them as Quistis dodged one and Beatrix deflected the other with her sword. Quistis took her whip and lashed it at Xaldin, but a spear formed in his hand and he was able to block it. The whip however wrapped around the spear and she used it to pull it out of his hand. Grabbing the spear from her whip, Quistis thought she had the upper hand, but the spear dissolved and appeared back in Xaldin's hand.

"There is no way to resist me, for this is what despair looks like." Xaldin muttered.

"Screw despair, I never worried about that anyways." Quistis said, as both her and Beatrix charged at Xaldin.


	15. SubChapter 7

Hello everyone, I just want to extend a big apology for taking so long to get this chapter out. I have been busy over the past two weeks and haven't had time to work on it and when I did, I was sort of in a jam, which I unjammed. There is only one more chapter is the Subchapter series left after this one. So enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guy was starting to piss Irvine off, with the provoking comments and constant attack changes. Not to mention he was wielding two guns, Irvine was the only one allowed with guns here. Plus, they were still getting nowhere with this guy and now they were fighting up top a large cliff side that was way above ground level. Quickly realizing the disadvantage they had, Zidane jumped back to a safe distance where Irvine stood.

"This isn't working, we're going to need to take it up a notch." Zidane said, "I got a treat for him, hopefully you got the same." 

"By that, you mean a bullet up his ass?" Irvine asked.

"Yeah something like that." Zidane replied, with a laugh. 

Irvine laughed and backed up to let Zidane prepare his "treat" for Xigbar. Zidane took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, as energy gathered around him and started to radiate off his body. The light purplish color then began to glow off of Zidane as his cloths and hair swirled all about from the immense energy that circled around him. Irvine had to admit, he was definitely impressed by what Zidane was showing. He not only looked cool, but had somehow gained more power then before. Xigbar was a little thrown off by this. He couldn't understand where all that energy and power came from, which would now make things hard for him.

"This is my Trance." Zidane said, "Until now, I wasn't even serious."

"Not serious, as if." Xigbar chuckled.

Zidane grinned angrily at Xigbar and at an amazing speed charged at him cutting him in the left shoulder. Xigbar's eyes widen, not expecting the attack and quickly jumped back gripping his shoulder wound. He knew the tailed-kid had gained some more power, but that speed and strength was just unheard of. Things were going to get way more difficult from here on, more then he imagined so. All he had to do though was kill Irvine, once that was over he could leave. He turned around to Zidane, only to see the boy fly at him again and launch an attack. Xigbar barely dodged it, knowing that it would have been fatal had it hit him. He shot at Zidane, but it was quickly blocked and Zidane retaliated with another attack. He again cut Xigbar, this time getting his right shoulder. Blood began to seep from both his wounds, weakening them like Zidane had intended.

Xigbar was getting tired of this really quickly and formed his two guns together to form a sniper rifle. He jumped in the air as high as he could and aimed his rifle at Zidane, charging it up and then firing it at him. Zidane easily dodged the blue laser arrow and went in for an attack, when the arrow bounced off the ground and hit him. The attack was so forceful that it threw him back and off the cliff. Quickly he stabbed his dagger into the edge of the cliff, using it as support from falling. He looked down only to see a very long fall and an immediate death had he actually fallen. Looking back up, he saw yet another blue laser arrow flying towards him, ready to end his life. Irvine laughed and stepped in the way firing his gun, the canister bullet collided the arrow and created a small blast in mid-air.

"You know what Zidane, I think I'll take it from here." he said, lending his hand to him.

"Your loss." Zidane responded, taking the hand and climbing back up and into safety.

"It's always my loss." Irvine stated, as he looked back over to Xigbar, "Sorry but your starting to become a problem, so I thought I come up with a plan. I'll beat you to death and kick you around and then you'll tell me where my friends are. After that I'll throw you off the cliff, how does that sound?"

"Sounds great, though how about we reverse it. Instead of me taking the beating, I'll be the one delivering it." Xigbar said in response to Irvine's smart mouth. 

Irvine laughed and loaded his gun with AP ammo. Both normal and quick ammo weren't enough to take this guy down let alone hit him. He needed something that was much more stronger and if the AP ammo hit him, then it would definitely cause some serious damage. Both Xigbar and Irvine then lifted their guns and fired at the same time. Both dodged each others attack and continued to exchange bullets. Xigbar was having a harder time though, and wondered where this sudden burst of energy came from in Irvine. It was as if these two weren't using their full strength untill now.

"The thing about my baby, she can fire off many different types of ammo. Up until now I was just using the weakest kind, it's going to get a lot harder for you now that I decided to upgrade." Irvine added. 

"Actually, your already dead." Xigbar remarked, as he raised his gun up and fired.

Irvine felt a strong, sharp pain in his chest and looked down to see blood staining his cloths where a bullet had hit him. He looked back up, the gun Xigbar had fired was pointing away from him in the air. How could a bullet pierce him when it wasn't aimed at him? Irvine gripped his chest as blood poured out at an even faster rate, leaving him to lose his balance and slowly inch his way towards the edge of the cliff.

"Space manipulation, or teleportation to be exact. I can teleport my shots in different angles no matter where my guns are aimed." Xigbar explained, "I guess it wasn't as hard as you said it would be."

Irvine didn't know what to think anymore, it was over for him. He started to cough up blood, struggling to get a ounce of breath. Pain was running up and down his body but it would soon be over for him. His eyes started to slowly close, but he struggled to keep them open. He didn't want to die like this, he didn't want to die without seeing his friends again. He didn't want to die now, not ever getting the chance to see her again. He stopped as he came to the edge of the cliff, miles away from ground level and a certain death to those who fell. Xigbar snickered and turned as he tapped a small device around his ear.

"Xaldin, Irvine Kinneas has been eliminated." he spoke, before turning to Irvine, "Since you're gonna die anyways, Destiny Islands. That's where you'll find one of your friends, some girl by the name of Selphie Tilmitt." 

Xigbar gave a small laugh before he turned to the dark mass of energy that appeared in front of him. He slowly entered and disappeared leaving the injured two behind in a somewhat state of shock. Irvine was happy though, glad to know Selphie was alright. He smiled as he dropped his gun to the ground and looked up at the sky.

"Sorry Selphie, I don't think I can make it to you." he mumbled, "But I know that you can hear me and I just wanted to let you know, I just wanted to tell you that I love you."

Irvine closed his eyes and fell back, falling in the air and to his death. Zidane rushed immediately to try and grab him, but it was too late. He watched as his friend fell and disappeared within the mist surrounding the cliffs. He yelled out his name, but he knew that wouldn't do anything. It was over and there was nothing he could do. As Irvine fell, he could hear someone whisper to him before he lost conscious completely.

"Don't worry, you'll see her again." the voice called, "Just like I'll see my friends again." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Xaldin, Irvine Kinneas has been eliminated."

Xaldin received the message and shook his head in disbelief. Here he was having trouble with these two pests, both of which weren't proving to be much of a challenge for him. Yet Xigbar had already defeated his target and was probably headed back to their world. Xaldin grew angry at this thought, but laughed knowing he could use this to his advantage. He turned to Quistis, who looked confused hearing the message through Xaldin's device.

"You heard that, didn't you?" he asked, "Your friend has been killed, and you will soon follow after him." 

Quistis couldn't believe it, Irvine was dead! No she wouldn't believe it, there was no way he would die that soon. There was no way he would allow himself to die here and now, not when they were so close to finding their friends. It had to be a trick, right? Tears started to run down her face, unsure of what to think. Hatred was the only thing on her mind now, hatred for the man who stood before her. Hatred for the heartless and darkness and that hate could no longer be held in. She screamed in anger and without giving thought to what she was doing, charged at Xaldin in a head-on attack.

"Pathetic." Xaldin muttered, dodging her attack and driving his spear through her chest. 

He pulled the spear out of her and grabbed her throwing her into the wall. She hit the wall and fell to the floor, unable to fight or even stand anymore. So it was over for them, even though she struggled, her body wouldn't allow her to keep going on. Fate had betrayed them and luck no longer cared to stand next to the weak. As she began to lose conscious herself, her last thoughts drifted to her friends. She would never see them again.

"Quistis." Beatrix shouted as she rushed to her side.

"Pathetic, wasting my precious time on such a weakling. I'd take her heart, but it's so worthless that it couldn't even meet a child's needs." Xaldin said.

Beatrix shook her, trying to keep her awake and alive. If she could get her to Eiko and Garnet, then Quistis might have a chance at surviving. Their healing magic could save her, but how much time would she be given before life ended for the her? A dark mass of energy appeared around Xaldin and he slowly disappeared watching Beatrix struggle to keep Quistis alive. Their mission was complete, both Irvine and Quistis had been eliminated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Author's note: In the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II, Xigbar was able to combine his two guns into a sniper rifle when battlign Sora in The World That Never Was. To keep its E10 rating, they edited this out of the US version...sadly...)


	16. SubChapter 8

Well this is a the last chapter in the sub-chapter series, but a big question on everyone's mind... is Irvine and Quitis dead? Heh, read and find out!

--

Quistis sat in her bed just staring out the small window. The sky was clear and the sun was shining bright on the Kingdom of Alexandria. The citizens were still suffering from the tragedy that struck the kingdom several days ago. Many people had died and several knights were killed in the line of duty. Garnet had addressed her people about the issue, and about what had happened. The kingdom was grieving, but Quistis was grieving along with them. She couldn't come to face the fact that Irvine was dead. If it hadn't been for Garnet and Eiko, she would have died herself. Her wound was still there and once healed, a scar would replace it. She didn't care though, Irvine was gone and she had just lost apart of her family. It was unlike her to act this way too, immature and emotional. She had to face reality, but she just never knew it would be this hard.

Garnet walked in, Eiko beside her, as they approached Quistis at her bedside. She couldn't understand why they both had smiles on their faces, especially after what had happened. Even though it was beyond her understanding, she kept up the attitude and smiled slightly. She should be glad at the fact that neither them nor Beatrix were severely hurt in the attack that took place.

"I've got some good news, folk outside of town that were traveling here from Dali reported a large airship slowly making its way to Alexandria. We haven't heard word since they left, but it could very well be the Hilda Grande X." Garnet explained.

"It is the Hilda Grande!" Eiko remarked, proud of that statement.

"That's good to hear, I hope they are all ok." Quistis said.

"Quistis, Irvine may not be..." Garnet stopped, trying not to use that word, "...he may still be alive. Don't give up hope just yet."

"Of course." she replied with a nod.

A knock then came at the door, as Garnet gave permission and Beatrix entered bowing slightly to the three. She looked over joyed as if something good had happened, and didn't have to say anything before Garnet and Eiko smiles lit up the entire room. The Hilda Grande had finally arrived in Alexandria, and Zidane and the group were finally home. Garnet stood up and extended her hand to Quistis. She sighed and hesitated for a moment before taking her hand and getting out of the bed. The excited young woman than rushed out the door and towards the hanger dragging Quistis along. As they ran through the halls and down the stairs, Quistis could still see the smile on her face. The smile that was certain that Zidane and everyone else returned safely, the smile that also assured her that Irvine was on that ship alive and well. She began to curse herself out in her own mind, doubting what she had been thinking all along.

_"Irvine is on that ship."_ She thought to herself, as the finally reached the doors to the hanger.

As the four of them, Garnet, Eiko, Quistis and Beatrix, entered the hanger the ship had finished docking and the locks had been set in place to hold the Hilda Grande X . The hatch door to the Hilda Grande opened slowly and the first to step out was Zidane, walking with a limb. Garnet spotted him quickly running and jumping into him and nearly knocking the already injured man to the ground.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." he shouted, as he tried to escape her grip.

"I was worried." she said, releasing her hold and kissing him gently on the lips.

"C'mon now, you think I'd go down that easily." he asked, as if it were a sly joke.

"Of course not, I'd think my man would be as strong as steal." she replied, with a giggle happy to see him.

Behind them Freya and Steiner exited the ship and the crew members made their way out as well. It seemed everyone was ok, yet one person was still missing. Quistis waited with a smile on her face, reassuring herself Irvine would be on the ship and would walk out any second. A tear slowly started to fall but she still kept up her smile. Zidane caught her tear and sighed heavily as he walked up to her slowly, rubbing the back of his head as if he was unsure of what to say. He went to speak but Quistis held her hand up and stopped him, right then and there her original thoughts had been confirmed. Irvine was not getting off that ship. Her smile quickly faded as she turned to leave but was stopped by Zidane's hand on her shoulder.

"We did the best we could." he told her, "He died for his cause."

"Yeah and it hurt a hell of a lot too."

Quistis recognized the voice and turned to see Irvine standing behind Zidane, Zidane with a wide grin on his face. She smiled and walked up to Irvine who looked up to her and smiled opening his arms for a hug from her. Instead he found himself on the floor, being smacked upside the head.

"You damn asshole, do you realize how much you had me worried?" she asked.

"You were worried about me, how sweet." he answered, looking up at her.

Quistis smiled to herself, glad inside that he was ok and that the fear of him gone forever had finally vanished. She wasn't sure what she would do without him, he was the only friend she had in this large and lonely universe. As she helped him back up, she spotted the bandages around his waist, apparently where the supposed fatal wound had struck him. Irvine noticed that she was looking at his bandages and laughed.

"Weren't as tough as they said they were." he laughed.

"Yeah, guy was a freaking pain in the ass though." Zidane added, "Couldn't keep still, had to be jumping everywhere and shooting everything."

"Though I would have died, and should have died." Irvine said, now sounding serious, "Quistis, someone saved me and it wasn't one of us. Just before I blanked out I heard a whisper saying, don't worry you'll see her again just like I'll see my friends again. Then I saw a man in that same cloak as those Organization guys. Quistis, he had a keyblade."

She fell in shock at that moment not able to make clear of the situation. So Irvine did die as she was told and he should have been dead now. Who though? That question lingered in her mind, maybe answering it as the Keyblade master. Though out their travels they had also learned about the keyblade, the one weapon the heartless feared the most. Along the keyblade was a chosen wielder, a boy by the name of Sora. They had yet to met this Sora, but if he had a keyblade like Irvine said then maybe he was the keyblade wielder. Why was he dressed in the same cloths as Organization XIII, surely he wasn't working with them too?

"No it couldn't have been him." Irvine answered, reading her mind, "It wasn't Sora but I believe he has a connection to him somehow. Maybe Sora is one of those friends he mentioned he was looking for, I came too and he was already gone."

"We didn't see anything either, Irvine just dropped from the sky behind us and there was no one else in sight." Zidane mentioned, "We couldn't figure it out, so we headed to the closest town to get him patched up before making our way back home."

Strange, indeed. So if it wasn't the Keyblade wielder and it wasn't a member of the Organization, then who was it. All they needed was another mystery popping up and itching at them to figure it out. With their world gone, their friends missing, dealing with the heartless and Organization XIII, Quistis and Irvine had their hands tied already. Trying to figure out who this person was or why he saved Irvine in the first place was beyond what they were already on. Then Quistis remembered what Irvine said that the man had told him, something about seeing her again.

"Who's her?" she asked.

"Well out of all of this I managed to get some good news, Destiny Islands." he said, "That is where we will find Selphie."

"Selphie?" Quistis's eyes lit up, as she heard the name.

"Just before he left, the Organization guy mentioned that Selphie was on Destiny Islands." Irvine responded.

"Can we trust what he said though?" she asked

"He probably thought I was going to die, so its hard to say. It's worth a shot though, if there is a chance that Selphie might be there then I'm going." he replied.

It was a lead, even though it couldn't be entirely proven. This was the first and only lead they had actually gotten, as past experiences in other worlds did not go so well. They had found nothing until now, a slip-up from the Organization themselves. Besides, if Irvine believed Selphie to be there then Quistis would not be able to stop him. He was hard determined on finding that girl no matter what. He loved her and she loved him, not even the heartless or the Organization could break that. Quistis smiled at the thought and looked up at Irvine patting him on the shoulder.

"Well then I guess it's time we say our goodbyes." Quistis laughed.

"Wait, you two are still injured." Garnet said, trying to stop them, "You can't leave just yet."

"Sorry, if Irvine says so I can't stop him." Quistis laughed, as she turned to find Irvine unconscious on the floor, "That idiot, says one thing and then faints from his wound."

She shook her head as Garnet called in the medics who quickly gathered Irvine and took him into the castle. Perhaps they would be staying a little longer then anticipated. She was glad though, as this was the chance they had been waiting for. They would get to see their friends again and hope was once restored in her mind. She looked up and into the blue sky, smiling and then turning to follow everyone back into the castle.

--

The day had quickly passed into night and now the large group of newly made friends sat in the same room where they had first met. Both Quistis and Irvine were well rested and had recovered from their wounds, as had Zidane and Beatrix. Things were once again peaceful, but Garnet worried whether it would stay that why. Upon hearing what happened in the castle while they were in Madain Sari, Zidane placed his tea down on the table and stood up.

"From this day on, no threat whether it be those cloakers or the heartless will ever set foot in my world without having to go through me first, that is a pledge that I make this night." Zidane stated.

"I pledge as well that no harm will ever come to Alexandria or our Queen, as long as I serve as Royal Captain." Steiner also stood and shouted.

"I too make the same pledge." Beatrix said as she stood.

"Same here." Freya muttered.

"I'll beat anyones ass who dare challenge me or the great world of Gaia." Eiko also shouted as she stood.

"And as Queen of Alexandria and ruler of this world, I shall see to the same pledge. I will give my life to protect this world, that I pledge this night." Garnet yelled, pride in her tone as she stood as well.

Quistis looked around as beside her Irvine sat and everyone else stood in honor and pride of what they had just pledged to do. Over time these people had not only become friends, but family to the two of them. They had fought along side each other with dignity and protected each other with love. These people of Gaia reminded her a lot of the people of her world. In that she stood and raised her drink in the air.

"A toast then to our new found pledge, for I and Irvine pledge from this day that we will find our friends no matter what obstacle stands in our way. A toast to our new found friends and family, which we so dearly love no matter what world we may come from. A toast to us all." she spoke, as she took the sip from her tea finishing the cup.

Irvine nodded and stood doing the same, as the others followed. They had now toasted to their pledge and in words promised to fulfill that pledge. It was now time for them to say they're final good-byes and leave this world, a world that both of them could call their second home. Garnet nodded as they escorted the two down to the hanger where their own gummi ship awaited them. The hanger was empty and the night sky was lit with the many stars and the moon casting shadows on the ground. The two approached their ship as they turned to the large group in back of them.

"We wish you luck on finding your friends and safe travels." Garnet said, "We will all miss you."

"So we'll we, thank you." Quistis respond, as the two shared a final hug before Quistis departed to her ship.

Irvine flashed a grin and turned towards the ship waving his hand as a goodbye. The group did the same as the Gummi ship slowly took lift once the two were on board. The ship then began to make it's way out of the hanger and up into the sky before disappearing into the stars. It was then that a man came running up the stairs and as soon as he saw Garnet and Zidane ran up to them as quick as he could. The group quickly identified him as Amarant, but the man was out of breath as if he had been running for days straight.

"Amarant, you look so tired and we haven't seen you for so long." Garnet said, walking up to him.

"Dagger listen, two men are on their way to destroy Alexandria. You must prepare quickly, I think they mean Alexandria harm." he spoke, taking heavy and deep breaths in between words.

Garnet just stood there wide-eyed and sighed as Eiko approached the two of them. Then as hard she could, she punched Amarant in back of the head knocking the red-head man to the ground.

"You moron, that would have been a little helpful a few days ago." Eiko shouted at the top of her lungs, steam pouring from her ears.

As Amarant lay on the floor in pain from the sucker punch he received and as Eiko continued to curse him out, the group stood there and laughed. Garnet rejoined Zidane as the two walked away from the group and stood looking up into the night sky. In just a week they had learned so much and had gained a new family.

"I hope we see them again, maybe someday we can travel out their ourselves and visit them in another world." Garnet said, Zidane laughing by her side.

"Yeah someday." Zidane replied, as they looked up and into a new world.


End file.
